Denver Post: Denver has done it yet again. Denver's healthy mix of home price appreciation, low unemployment and tech industry focus places the Mile High City atop Zillow's "Top 10 Hottest Housing Markets for 2016" rankings.
The real estate site's Home Value Forecast evaluated metrics such as forecasted appreciation, jobless rate and income growth. Denver topped the list and Seattle, Dallas-Fort Worth, Texas; Richmond, Va.; and Boise, Idaho, rounded out the top five.
"Trendy tech centers like San Francisco, Seattle and Denver hogged the spotlight in 2015," Svenja Gudell, Zillow's chief economist, said in a statement. "But this year, the markets that shine brightest will be those that manage to strike a good balance between strong income growth, low unemployment and solid home value appreciation."
Denver's home values rose just under 16 percent in 2015 and are projected to gain another 5 percent this year, according to the Zillow report.
The Denver metro area's housing market posted a record year in 2015, with 55,509 home sales totaling $20.16 billion, according to a report released last week by the Denver Metro Association of Realtors.
Inventory shortages coupled with hordes of new residents settling along the Front Range contributed to the boisterous market that drove sales prices higher, created bidding wars, drove uprents and negatively affected lower-income residents.
Zillow's top 10 housing markets for 2016:
1.) Denver
2.) Seattle
3.) Dallas-Fort Worth, Texas
4.) Richmond, Va.
5.) Boise, Idaho
6.) Ogden, Utah
7.) Salt Lake City
8.) Omaha, Neb.
9.) Sacramento, Calif.
10.) Portland, Ore.
See Zillow's Denver facts and forecast here.
