Denver Ranked #2 BEST City to Live

For the 2nd year in a row Denver was named either #1 or #2 BEST city to live in the country. This year it was #2 - perhaps it would have been a bit embarrassing should it have gotten #1 both years in a row!

The key factors were demanding for any city:
1) Value of homes.
2) Quality of life.
3) Job market health.
4) Desire to live here.
5) Number of people moving here.

Check out what US News & World Report had to say: 

"Founded in the mid-1800s as a mining hub during the gold rush, Denver has come a long way since its Wild West days. Over time, its residents have evolved from gun-slinging gamblers into an easygoing crowd of ambitious, progressive-minded fitness fanatics and nature lovers who are eager to push the envelope on everything from civil rights to drug laws. Nicknamed the Mile High City for its 5,280-foot elevation (although officially reported as 5,279 feet), Denver's location at the base of the Rocky Mountains provides a gateway to a slew of outdoor pursuits, although it is probably best known for its devout ski and snowboard enthusiasts.
To clarify a common misconception, Denver is not a mountain town. It actually takes at least an hour to drive to the Rockies. But there are some great places for recreating within a 30-minute drive of downtown, such as Red Rocks Park and Cherry Creek State Park.  
Some might say that Denver is experiencing a gold rush of a different color: green. After Colorado residents voted to legalize recreational marijuana in 2012, Denver has seen a surge in cannabis-related commerce, from dispensaries to magazines to high-tech paraphernalia like vaporizers, rolling papers, lotions and storage containers – and the industry is just gaining speed."

Denvernomics: 10 Fascinating Fast Facts That Show Denver is Not in a Bubble

1. In 2006 Metro Denver had 7 months of supply inventory, which means it would take 7 months for the amount of buyers then to buy all the homes that were for sale. Today there is 1.2 months of inventory. A balanced market is 6 months of inventory. 1.2 months means tons of demand, and scarce supply. Before the recession we had tons of supply, little demand. 
2. From 2000-2006 homebuilders built 47,000 too many homes based on population growth, but since 2007 because many builders stopped building during the recession, builders are behind by 67,000. Building and development take twice as long today as it did 10 years ago, so builders are not keeping up. The average household in Denver is 2.5 people. The population increase of 120,000 people in the last 2 years means 48,000 new units were needed to be built. Builders only built 30,000 new units in the last 2 years. Demand for new housing is 60% greater than the supply of new homes. 
3. The foreclosure filing rate today is 95% lower than it was a few years ago. There are very few distressed sales. 
4. Just last year 103,000 people moved to Metro Denver. There has been an average of 45,000 population increase in Denver since 1994. The Colorado state demography office has determined growth by at least 50,000 people per year for decades to come. 
5. The unemployment rate is under 3.5%. It is very easy and attractive to become an entrepreneur in Colorado, and many people are taking advantage of that and being successful. 
6. There has been an average income growth of 5% in last 2 years.
7. Rental rates have dramatically increased in the last 5 years, and have doubled in the last 10. An average of 1200-1500 people are moving to Denver each WEEK. 
8. Mortgage rates are at record lows, at 3.45% right now, at the lowest rates since banks started lending in 1900.
9. Lenders since 2010 have been extremely strict on qualification per new government and industry regulations caused by bad lending before the recession. The buyers who have bought since 2010 are very well qualified. 
10. There are 800,000 millennials and counting in metro Denver. And 350,000 of them are living with their parents! This is a whole wave of buyers and renters who are going to flood the market soon in the next few years, so even if 50,000-100,000 people stop moving here (which will not happen) millennials will be more than enough to absorb supply. 

Our Denver real estate market as like a teeter totter: imagine on the demand side is a huge hungry japanese sumo wrestler, and on the supply side a very skinny model. The sumo wrestler's diet is population growth and people moving to Denver, and economic growth. The skinny model's diet is essentially more housing supply and more vacancies. With Denver's economy right now the model is starving, and the sumo wrestler is gorging. For the teeter totter to balance or go the other way, the sumo wrestler has to stop eating his diet and the model has to start eating her diet. Until either or both events happen our real estate market will not change.

Welcome to Denvernomics with The Denver House Guy :)

(Some of this material is taken from notes in economic trends classes I took from Lon Welsh and Lonnie Glessner)

Fun Trulia Neighborhood HEAT MAP & Stats

Find and click on your neighborhood to get quick stats like sales prices, values, rents, & more!

Click here for Trulia Heat map

Denver neighborhoods	Avg. listing price Week ending Nov 5		Avg. sales price Aug-Nov '14		Median sales price Aug-Nov '14		Price per sqft Aug-Nov '14		Trulia popularity Week ending Nov 5
Name	Amount	w-o-w	Amount	y-o-y	Amount	y-o-y	Amount	y-o-y	Rank
Elyria Swansea	$155,475	4.5%	$133,239	10.1%	$139,250	16.0%	$165	17.9%	68
Westwood	$156,141	-0.6%	$167,429	27.0%	$160,000	24.5%	$189	35.0%	42
Valverde	$166,100	-12.5%	$161,750	17.1%	$162,500	30.0%	$184	19.5%	73
Windsor	$167,150	-10.1%	$146,787	22.5%	$113,750	8.9%	$124	22.8%	28
Barnum	$173,478	10.3%	$191,913	36.7%	$180,000	29.5%	$204	32.5%	59
Kennedy	$175,000	2.9%	$156,500	-	$156,500	-	$175	-	77
East Colfax	$184,920	-1.4%	$221,464	11.6%	$219,500	11.4%	$249	16.4%	36
Barnum West	$187,880	6.2%	$170,147	1.7%	$175,000	0.9%	$183	14.4%	71
Globeville	$188,967	16.3%	$184,909	28.8%	$188,500	20.8%	$182	12.3%	65
Ruby Hill	$189,460	-4.5%	$179,435	13.1%	$182,500	12.3%	$191	11.7%	56
Montbello	$194,161	-2.4%	$192,821	23.9%	$187,500	16.8%	$144	15.2%	10
Gateway	$195,358	-0.2%	$210,105	13.9%	$210,000	16.7%	$130	9.2%	22
Mar Lee	$206,379	8.4%	$201,549	27.9%	$189,950	21.0%	$220	38.4%	31
Vicca Park	$213,960	3.0%	$203,561	30.3%	$200,000	33.3%	$219	26.6%	67
Denver International Airport	$217,337	-0.7%	$153,393	26.1%	$155,000	21.5%	$115	23.7%	57
Goldsmith	$223,700	-26.8%	$257,107	7.8%	$330,000	1.5%	$183	13.0%	72
College View	$230,017	4.1%	$178,808	0.3%	$185,000	10.1%	$159	16.1%	52
Harveys Park	$235,927	-1.1%	$223,313	17.2%	$227,953	14.0%	$206	14.4%	27
Overland	$242,333	-5.9%	$309,800	52.7%	$315,000	43.2%	$295	49.7%	75
Green Valley Ranch	$256,868	0.9%	$237,347	10.0%	$225,711	14.6%	$131	11.0%	2
Athmar Park	$261,817	2.8%	$205,719	18.3%	$194,000	17.6%	$212	30.1%	53
Harvey Park South	$264,282	5.9%	$256,180	14.4%	$265,000	19.9%	$225	25.7%	51
Northeast Park Hill	$277,200	-1.0%	$233,881	18.9%	$235,750	17.9%	$235	29.8%	49
Hampden	$289,344	2.2%	$199,047	-5.8%	$166,700	-5.1%	$140	-	18
Bear Valley	$294,533	5.4%	$230,901	5.0%	$255,000	-1.5%	$148	5.0%	66
Marston	$295,065	-6.0%	$231,196	-4.7%	$197,450	-12.0%	$162	6.6%	54
Skyland	$309,300	-2.6%	$286,028	4.4%	$285,500	5.9%	$288	-4.6%	46
Clayton	$309,465	-1.2%	$258,732	8.9%	$270,400	12.7%	$282	5.6%	50
Virginia Village	$320,276	-2.7%	$277,045	9.4%	$265,500	-1.6%	$222	9.9%	21
Chaffee Park	$322,593	5.3%	$224,647	10.1%	$211,500	8.2%	$238	8.2%	69
Lincoln Park	$343,100	8.9%	$264,382	8.5%	$245,000	10.6%	$275	-6.1%	47
Hampden South	$361,186	-4.8%	$262,182	8.6%	$184,500	4.8%	$155	6.9%	19
Cole	$365,973	9.5%	$292,183	13.3%	$307,750	24.6%	$268	23.5%	61
Regis	$367,538	9.2%	$349,903	29.1%	$315,000	21.2%	$373	40.8%	70
Fort Logan	$390,610	3.2%	$288,817	20.2%	$292,800	22.0%	$175	19.9%	33
North Park Hill	$396,972	-1.0%	$351,485	0.5%	$342,500	7.3%	$326	20.7%	12
Sunny Side	$411,961	1.9%	$351,710	12.2%	$382,500	17.7%	$336	8.4%	29
Washington Virginia Vale	$427,244	7.3%	$247,261	6.6%	$184,000	1.7%	$184	5.1%	14
Stapleton	$429,116	0.4%	$448,414	8.1%	$424,000	6.6%	$233	8.4%	1
Baker	$431,202	3.6%	$321,364	20.1%	$325,500	40.3%	$294	13.1%	44
North Capitol Hill	$440,106	-1.9%	$304,148	-3.7%	$309,500	-4.2%	$302	8.2%	38
Rosedale	$445,966	1.1%	$368,916	-4.8%	$353,840	-1.2%	$334	-2.9%	64
Whittier	$465,371	-0.7%	$397,684	27.1%	$401,000	48.5%	$302	8.6%	43
Jefferson Park	$466,600	-3.2%	$405,459	23.5%	$395,000	18.8%	$296	-4.5%	55
Capitol Hill	$485,375	5.5%	$248,013	8.6%	$201,000	11.7%	$249	13.7%	3
Congress Park	$496,501	5.6%	$445,744	12.8%	$376,500	-3.7%	$327	9.4%	5
University	$496,943	3.8%	$391,063	-0.7%	$365,350	3.5%	$431	26.0%	30
West Colfax	$502,554	1.6%	$311,547	51.0%	$309,000	81.8%	$287	45.7%	41
University Hills	$509,428	1.6%	$331,562	3.3%	$266,890	-2.9%	$251	8.7%	45
Berkeley	$523,435	-5.9%	$446,173	18.8%	$445,000	18.5%	$410	29.7%	35
West Highland	$533,220	2.2%	$408,001	-0.3%	$405,000	5.1%	$391	9.2%	13
Southmoor Park	$538,222	-4.7%	$424,459	11.3%	$362,150	-3.4%	$209	8.9%	63
Cheeseman Park	$550,173	-7.9%	$292,657	-8.1%	$194,900	-21.9%	$267	11.7%	16
City Park	$556,950	-7.2%	$408,599	-7.0%	$380,000	-1.3%	$360	0.8%	60
Montclair	$567,616	6.3%	$404,191	8.1%	$382,400	10.8%	$340	18.1%	40
Speer	$580,817	-10.5%	$329,548	2.7%	$274,100	-14.9%	$310	11.1%	8
Washington Park West	$588,678	-2.5%	$496,275	11.9%	$453,500	8.4%	$400	9.3%	7
Hale	$597,166	-4.5%	$325,098	4.8%	$313,500	-7.4%	$281	16.1%	32
Civic Center	$601,861	-	$357,737	-3.0%	$318,450	0.5%	$288	-0.3%	62
South Park Hill	$608,244	-6.9%	$472,012	-2.8%	$422,825	-1.0%	$367	13.6%	20
Lowry Field	$615,938	6.3%	$446,248	0.9%	$366,500	-6.0%	$224	-0.9%	34
Platt Park	$623,245	-	$482,194	11.9%	$480,000	12.9%	$402	30.1%	39
City Park West	$683,340	-0.6%	$304,736	6.3%	$294,950	7.3%	$277	13.1%	58
Washington Park	$693,498	6.0%	$753,732	11.1%	$615,000	-2.9%	$457	-6.0%	15
Auraria	$699,000	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	74
Sloan Lake	$716,005	-0.7%	$410,013	9.1%	$409,000	14.4%	$376	11.2%	11
Highland	$723,825	5.5%	$476,252	16.7%	$451,950	18.9%	$372	13.4%	9
Cory-Merrill	$822,149	3.5%	$687,710	14.4%	-	-	$452	9.2%	48
Union Station	$841,199	4.4%	$498,104	-10.0%	$422,500	-13.1%	$382	-7.5%	25
Wellshire	$853,734	-0.1%	$625,626	11.6%	$518,750	3.8%	$324	7.6%	26
Five Points	$907,619	-1.2%	$356,336	3.3%	$337,849	9.3%	$291	8.6%	6
Cherry Creek	$989,989	-5.1%	$774,054	0.4%	$798,000	28.7%	$393	8.6%	4
Belcaro	$1,031,036	-9.4%	$645,450	-18.4%	$556,250	-17.5%	$437	11.8%	23
Hilltop	$1,186,298	-4.8%	$863,554	-4.9%	$848,700	10.8%	$355	-0.3%	37
Sun Valley	$1,300,000	-	$145,600	-	$145,600	-	$159	-	76
Central Business District	$1,337,019	-16.1%	$378,331	-11.5%	$349,995	9.4%	$366	6.4%	24
Country Club	$1,938,152	1.7%	$824,549	-1.9%	$654,000	-5.5%	$435	17.9%	17
Arsenal	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Elryia Swansea	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Harvey Park	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
South Flatte	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Villa Park	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Wilshire	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-

See home prices and popularity trends in Denver, CO by neighborhood or ZIP—sort by average listing price, average sales price, median sales price, average price/sqft and search popularity. Choose between seeing the actual prices or year-over-year (y-o-y) percentage changes on the map.