Breaking down the numbers in Denver Metro's real estate rush

While the last year certainly kept consumers on the edges of their seats with the many ebbs and flows of the real estate market, Denver Metro turned what could have been a tragedy of a year into a success story for real estate performance. Each year, LIV Sotheby’s International Realty produces a year-end Micro Market Report, which summarizes Denver Metro’s market performance last year compared to the previous year. For 2020, the report paints a picture of strength and resilience through appreciating home values, rising property sales, and accelerating market speeds. With the pandemic at the forefront of consumers’ minds, communities that offer a lifestyle that prioritizes health and socially distant recreation options, such as Denver Metro, became the hottest commodity in real estate. This sparked a second rush in the West, but this time people flocked here in search of homes instead of gold. As a result, the number of listings sold here in 2020 increased by an impressive 13.5% from 2019, totaling 61,107 homes sold. But with inventory levels dwindling, decreasing by 2%, the market struggled to satisfy the demand for Denver Metro homes. This intense demand paired with the area’s shrinking inventory placed buyers in stiff competition with each other. This pressure in the marketplace encouraged an appreciation for Denver Metro home values. For example, the price for single-family homes rose in 2020 by 9.6%, bringing the average price to $573,588. Attached residence values also saw an increase, growing in average price by 4% to $375,830. Looking at individual communities, several areas also saw appreciation. The City of Denver saw an increase in the number of properties sold last year, rising 7.8% from 14,308 listings sold in 2019 to 15,430 listings sold in 2020. The average sold price for homes in the area rose slightly by 1%, bringing the average sold price to $552,795. The highly sought-after neighborhoods of Cherry Creek South and East had the most notable appreciation of home values, rising 23.6% during 2020 compared to 2019. Several other neighborhoods experienced impressive increases in the number of listings sold, such as:

• Greenwood Village West
• Columbine Valley
• City Park South

Properties smaller than an acre in Greenwood Village West, an area beloved for its energetic blend of residential and commercial areas, had an 86.6% rise in homes sold, growing from 50 listings sold in 2019 to 93 listings sold last year. Listings sold in the Columbine Valley neighborhood rose by 69.6%, growing from 23 homes sold in 2019 to 39 homes sold last year. In City Park South, sales for properties increased by an impressive 81.8%. This particular neighborhood also led the region in the shortest time spent on the market. Although properties in City Park South spent the least amount of time on the market, averaging just 12 days, other areas experienced more significant decreases. For example, Sloan’s Lake, a community centered around the waterfront park by the same name, showed a 55.6% decrease in average days on market in 2020, from 45 days in 2019 to 20 days last year. Downtown Denver’s condominium market also picked up the pace with listings dropping from an average of 175 days on market to 56 days on market in 2020.