Is Denver's Hot Housing Market Finally Starting to Cool Down?

In recent months, Denver's housing market has been among the hottest in the country. But is it finally beginning to cool down?

Hardly, according to two national surveys. But a local report maintains that the answer is "yes."

First, let's take a look at July numbers from Weiss Residential Research.

Nationwide, the firm maintains, homes "losing value on a monthly basis has more than tripled over the past year, while the number of appreciating homes has fallen more than 12 percent."

Denver, however, appears to be immune from this trend, as seen in this graphic listing "markets with the highest percentages of appreciating properties."


As you can see, the Denver metro-area is listed at number two in the nation, behind only Reno, Nevada.

Granted, the percentage of appreciating properties is down nearly 7 percent from 2014, the figures show that an impressive 90 percent are gaining in value at present.

August numbers from Zillow are even more impressive when it comes to the Denver real estate market.

Zillow also finds plenty of evidence that houses across the country are losing value. The company notes that "Baltimore, Washington, D.C., and Philadelphia all had more than 40 percent of homes lose value year-over-year in August."

However, Denver, which "continues to be the hottest large real estate market in the country" according to the site, saw only 1.5 percent of homes decrease in value from August 2014 to August 2015.

"In the Denver area, less than 1 percent (.07 percent) of all homes in ZIP code 80017 in the city of Aurora lost value year-over-year in August, compared to 23 percent in ZIP code 80827 in the community of Lake George," Zillow points out.

A trio of Zillow graphics reinforce this point.

The first two, which focus on median home value, show the trend moving up, up, up, while the third, concentrating on the percentage of homes decreasing in value, heads in the opposite direction.

Even more persuasive is a graphic that compares Denver to markets across the country.

Denver's blue dot is in the upper right-hand corner, with every other large housing market scattered behind.


But is this data behind the curve? 7News spoke to a number of local realtors who say that once Labor Day hit, the demand from house-hunters took a dip.

“We’ve seen a big slowdown,” RE/MAX Unlimited realtor Ronda Courtney tells the station. “I have a listing that I’ve had to reduce twice in the past month.”

If that's the case, people looking for a place to purchase may not be forced into offering to pay way above list to even have a chance at winning the day — for now, anyhow.

Here's the 7News piece.