Denver's Real Estate Market Fairing Better Than Most U.S. Cities

Is Colorado's real estate glass half full or half empty? While homeowners from Boulder to Denver and up and down Colorado's Front Range are hurting along with the rest of the nation, it's true that we're in a much better spot than those around the country. As reported last week in the Denver Business Journal, Denver's 2008 housing price decline was the smallest of all 20 major U.S. cities tracked by Standard & Poors. According to the S & P report, which is available online, Denver's average price of existing homes fell 4 percent between December 2007 and December 2008. This was less than the other 19 cities in the study including Phoenix (which suffered the greatest with a 34% price decline), Las Vegas, Dallas, San Francisco and Boston.

The report also looked at monthly price declines from November 2008 to December 2008. Denver's 1.5% decline was second only to Boston's 1.3% decline.

So while I consistently caution sellers not to expect the returns we saw in years passed (Denver's housing prices peaked in 2006), I think we're fortunate to be in or near a major city that demonstrates some resilience even in the toughest of times. We're not bullet proof by any means, but we're certainly standing up to tumultuous conditions better than most.

Another bright spot for area residents as we kick off the month of March: Today in Boulder it's 68 degrees, sunny and dry. [Don't tell that to those from New England to Atlanta who are expecting up to a foot of new snow in the next 24 hours!]