After several years of overheated home-buying activity, the Denver real estate market has cooled down considerably.
In fact, recent forecasts for the Denver housing market predict that prices could remain flat through 2024 and into 2025. This is a major change from a couple of years ago, when prices were skyrocketing due to an influx of buyers from other parts of the country.
On this page, you’ll find the latest real estate market trends and predictions for the Denver-area real estate market, with helpful commentary from HBI’s research team!
Denver Housing Market Moving Slower in 2024
As mentioned above, the Denver real estate market has slowed down over the past year or so. In this context, we’re talking about how long it takes to sell a home. And in the Denver area, it’s taking a lot longer to sell a house in 2024 than a year earlier.
Consider the difference in these stats for the Denver-Aurora housing market:
- February 2022: homes stayed on the market for a median of just 7 days
- February 2024: homes stayed on the market for a median of 40 days
There are several reasons for this shift. For one thing, home prices in the Denver area have risen substantially over the past five years. It has become a more expensive real estate market, so there are fewer buyers who can actually afford to purchase a home in the area.
Additionally, today’s mortgage rates are a lot higher than they were two years ago. Both of these trends have had a cooling effect on the local housing market, increasing the time it takes to sell a home.
Home buyers and sellers alike should take note of this trend, since it can affect the negotiating dynamic.
Denver-area housing market prediction #1: The slowdown mentioned above could make the remainder of 2024 a good time to buy a house. Denver home buyers will have more negotiating leverage, as sellers go above and beyond to secure a deal.
Inventory Has Improved Over the Past Year
Here’s some more good news for home buyers in the Denver area. Inventory levels within the local real estate market have risen significantly over the past year, with more homes hitting the market lately.
According to a March 2024 report from Realtor.com, the total number of active real estate listings in the Denver-Aurora-Lakewood metro area rose by 30% over the past year. New listings rose by nearly 18% during that same timeframe.
This shows that the Denver-area housing market has more inventory than a year ago, with a higher number of new listings hitting the market. All of this bodes well for home buyers, especially those at the lower end of the price spectrum where competition tends to be more intense.
Despite the gains mentioned above, housing market inventory in the Denver area remains low from a historical perspective. Last month this metro area had about a 2.2-month supply of homes for sale, lower than the national average. But that’s still an improvement from two years ago, when the Denver real estate market was down to a record-low 0.5 months of supply.
Denver housing prediction #2: Home buyers who enter the market during the spring, summer or fall of 2024 should have more properties to choose from, compared to those who made a purchase last year. This increases the chance for finding a suitable home within budget.
Denver Home Price Forecast: A ‘Flat’ Year Ahead?
Next, we turn our attention to home prices. Recent home price trends and future-looking forecasts for the Denver housing market can be summed in two words.
Mostly flat.
According to Zillow, the median home value for the Denver-Aurora-Lakewood metro rose by a mere 1.2% over the past year, reaching $581,367. Looking forward, they predict that prices will inch upward by 0.3% over the next year (into February 2025).
The graph below shows the median home value the Denver metro area going back nearly a decade. You can see how the price trajectory increased during the pandemic, peaked in the summer of 2022, and then declined into a “plateau” which brings us up to the present.
Denver housing market prediction #3: Home buyers in the area probably don’t need to worry about fast-rising house prices for the foreseeable future. This market is expected to see very little price growth through the rest of 2024 and into 2025.
Looking Back: How the Pandemic Changed This Market
Sometimes you have to look backward to make sense of the present—and to predict the possible future. This applies to real estate conditions as well.
And when it comes to the Denver housing market, the past four years can be summed up as follows: This market shifted into turbo mode during the pandemic, began to cool down in late 2022, and slowed even further over the past year or so.
Denver was one of the so-called “pandemic hotspots” that received a flood of home buyers during the lockdown era. Boise, Austin, Sacramento and Salt Lake City fell into this category as well. Cities like these absorbed many new residents who were suddenly free to live anywhere, thanks to the remote working revolution.
The sudden influx of buyers overwhelmed existing housing inventory, driving up prices and creating fierce competition among buyers.
But what goes up must come down.
As a 2022 Redfin report explained:
“More than half of those metros–Boise, Denver, Tacoma, Sacramento, Phoenix, San Diego and Portland–are among the 20 housing markets that cooled fastest in the first half of 2022 after attracting scores of eager homebuyers during the pandemic.”
Now, as we enter the spring of 2024, Denver’s real estate market has shifted considerably. It’s slower and less competitive. Prices have declined from the all-time record high reached back in 2022. And home buyers currently have more negotiating leverage than they did a couple of year ago.
About the Denver Metropolitan Area
We’ve covered current real estate market trends in Denver, and the forecast extending into 2025. Now let’s zoom out and look at the metro area as a whole.
Here are some things to know about the Denver-Aurora-Lakewood metropolitan area, if you’re thinking about moving or buying a home there.
Location and Geography
The Denver Metropolitan Area is located in north-central Colorado, within the Front Range Urban Corridor (and right where the Great Plains meet the Rocky Mountains). This makes it a perfect homebase for outdoor adventures. Denver’s “Mile High City” nickname comes from its official elevation, roughly one mile above sea level.
Population Trends
According to the Metro Denver Economic Development Corporation: “Metro Denver has a population of more than three million people, and has a growth rate that has consistently outpaced the national rate every decade since the 1930s. The region grew steadily in the past 10 years, and by 2030, [the] population is anticipated to increase to more than 3.6 million.”
Economy and Employers
The Denver area has a strong and diverse local economy. Key industries include aerospace, technology, energy, healthcare, finance and tourism. Major employers include aerospace companies like Lockheed Martin and Ball Aerospace, technology firms such as Google and Amazon, healthcare providers like Kaiser Permanente and UCHealth, and financial institutions like Wells Fargo and Charles Schwab.
Cost of Living
Depending on the source, Denver’s cost of living sits around 8% – 10% higher than the national average. This is largely due to housing costs, which currently run about 36% higher than the national average.
Disclaimers: This report includes Denver housing market forecasts and predictions extending through 2024 and into 2025. Such forward-looking views are the equivalent of an educated guess and therefore not certain. The Home Buying Institute makes no claims or guarantees about future real estate market conditions.
Brandon Cornett
Brandon Cornett is a veteran real estate market analyst, reporter, and creator of the Home Buying Institute. He has been covering the U.S. real estate market for more than 15 years. About the author