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“The only thing that is reliable is change.”
Median prices for a single-family in the Denver metro area have dropped for the fourth straight month, according to the newest report from the Colorado Association of Realtors (CAR).
At $620,000, that median price for Denver-area homes has fallen by $40,000 since April’s record high, but it’s still up by approximately 10% from August 2021. Likewise, the condo/townhome market has also seen a decline in median pricing to $405,000, a $38,000 decrease from this April, but still 8% higher than August 2021.
Across the state of Colorado, median single-family prices also dropped for the fourth straight month in August, to $570,000, representing a $30,000 fall from April, and a 9.6% increase from last year. Median condo/townhome sales increased from July to August statewide to $414,961, which is still a $20,000 decrease from April, the CAR report states.
The close-to-list-price dropped below 100% for the first time since early 2020 for single-family Denver-area homes in August. With the number of days on the market also increasing, Colorado home buyers are perhaps demonstrating a more cautious approach to purchasing homes, according to the report.
The median price for a single-family home in Denver County decreased by 9.5% from July to August, representing a historically seasonal drop in pricing from past years. Last year saw a 7.5% decrease, while 2020 saw just a 0.4% increase. The four years prior to that saw between 2.5% and 6.7% decreases.
“The sky isn’t falling, there isn’t some explosive market change as the market itself is always in motion, always in a state of flux and is about as reliable as a 1973 Ford Pinto,” Denver-area realtor Matthew Leprino said in the report. “The only thing that is reliable is change and the fact that, year-over-year, market-over-market, values always increase with the wisdom of a historic perspective.”
Despite signs favoring a buyer’s market, inventory still remains well below the four- to six-month range that represents a balanced market. Across the state, the month’s supply of inventory — meaning the amount of time before all existing inventory runs out if no new listings hit the market — was 1.3 months for the townhome/condo market and two months for single-family homes.
In its report, CAR noted the affordability challenges in the state, with housing affordability remaining at its lowest ever, according to the Housing Affordability Index. CAR’s index takes into account interest rates, county median income and median sales prices.
CAR also offers insight into what’s happening in specific cities and counties throughout Colorado. In the city of Aurora, inventory rose 40% year over year, with one particular zip code reporting a huge 128% increase.
Similarly, Douglas County inventory was up as well, with 70% more homes on the market compared to August 2021. While median prices for Douglas County homes dropped for the fourth straight month, those prices are still up more than 10% from last year.
The Boulder and Broomfield counties demonstrated a common theme of big-time price reductions on listings, while other categories saw big increases. Home prices have increased 11% since the beginning of the year, and the list price-to-sale price ratio is at 104%.
Realtors are “counseling their clients to price their homes closer to the end of 2021’s sales, not to those that sold six months ago. The demand is still there and the local economy is still strong. The real estate market is still moving, as long as it’s priced right,” Broomfield and Boulder realtor Kelly Moye said in the report.
CAR uses a Minneapolis-based real estate tech company to compile its reports from multiple listing service (MLS) data.
n a recent poll of nearly 3,000 Coloradans, 88% of respondents said the rising cost of living is a serious problem in the state. In the Denver metro area, 31% said they are worried about losing their home, according to the poll from the Colorado Health Foundation.
“Lack of resources for the growing number of people moving here,” one person surveyed said when asked about the most important issue facing Colorado.
According to a recent report from national rental marketplace Zumper, rent for a one-bedroom apartment in Denver has jumped 26.6% from this time last year. Denver’s two-bedroom rentals are up 14.8%.
While Denver saw more properties on the market this April compared to April 2021, the average home sale price in Denver hit $726,988, making homeownership unaffordable for many potential buyers.
Even 83% of the individuals surveyed in the poll who reported earning more than six figures said that the rising cost of living is a serious problem in Colorado.
Affordability in Colorado is disproportionately impacting people of color, with higher percentages than white respondents reporting in the poll that they’re concerned about losing their homes, have cut back on food or health care to afford housing or worked multiple jobs to afford housing.
The majority of nearly 3,000 Coloradans surveyed in the poll, including Democrats, Republicans and independent voters, agreed that policy change is necessary to lower housing costs.
Two of the most popular solutions in the poll were ensuring landlords cannot raise rents on current tenants too quickly (74% agreed) and requiring developers to build housing for people with lower income levels (71%).
The City of Denver is seeking to address affordability with a proposal mandating that new development include a certain amount of affordable units. The Denver Community Planning and Development told Denver Business Journal that 1,202 affordable units with city financing are already under construction as of this month, with an additional 779 income-restricted units in the planning stage.
Businesses are also seeking to address the shortage of affordable housing, for example in mountain towns, where Vail Resorts (NYSE: MTN) is investing in 876 affordable units specifically for workers at some of its most high-profile, and expensive, ski resorts.
But some Coloradans are simply choosing to leave the state, which may become an increasingly popular option with remote work making it possible to live in less expensive areas. At the end of last year, around one in four Denver homebuyers were looking to relocate, according to Redfin data. Cities with high costs of living were seeing the most interest in net homebuyer outflow in that study.
And according to U.S. Census Bureau data, 12,606 fewer people moved to Colorado in 2021 than in 2020. While 2021 saw the smallest population gain for Colorado since 1990, the Centennial State had 15% more people moving out than moving in, according to HireAHelper.
Some of the fastest-growing cities in the U.S. are nearby, including in Utah, Arizona and Texas, according to Rocket Mortgage. A LinkedIn report last year found that Phoenix was one of the top destinations for Denver users who had left the city over the past two years.
While inventory is on the rise, so are prices. The average price of a single-family detached home in Denver Metro is $825,073, representing a 3.93 percent increase from last month. With consecutive months of increased prices and interest rates, a buyer’s monthly mortgage has increased as well. The average close-price-to-list-price ratio in April for the detached market was 107.29 percent. With the increase in supply, the close-price-to-list-price ratio is an example of how the market was reacting a month ago.
The relationship between closed sales and month-end active inventory impacts the supply and demand of the market and, therefore, many other statistics including average sales price. The most significant factor influencing the supply and demand of this market is interest rates. With many individuals refinancing due to low-interest rates on their house and interest rates north of five percent, there is minimal financial incentive to move.
“While buyers may be thinking they overpaid if they bought two months ago, this is not the case,” commented Andrew Abrams, Chair of the DMAR Market Trends Committee and Metro Denver Realtor®. “They likely got a slightly lower interest rate and the market is continuing to rise, just not as fast. In the chaos of the recent market, buyers had been waiving their inspections, doing full appraisal gaps and even offering to make their earnest money non-refundable before getting an inspection. Now, we are shifting to a more responsible market. There will still be bidding wars, appraisal gaps and limited inspection items on future properties, but the frequency of those will be less.”
The increased interest rates are already impacting the amount of inventory sitting on the market. While Denver Metro is still relatively low in inventory, the word “historic” is no longer applicable as there were 610 fewer properties on the market last year compared to today. The market usually sees an 8.59 percent increase in month-over-month inventory. This month, it saw an outstanding 44.26 percent increase.
Our monthly report also includes statistics and analyses in its supplemental “Luxury Market Report” (properties sold for $1 million or greater), “Signature Market Report” (properties sold between $750,000 and $999,999), “Premier Market Report” (properties sold between $500,000 and $749,999), and “Classic Market” (properties sold between $300,000 and $499,999).
eanwhile, in the Luxury Market, inventory is on the rise, with a 57.65 percent increase in new listings from this time last year. However, as a result of inflation, more homes will cross the threshold into the Luxury Market simply due to list price or more likely due to bidding wars that end 20 percent or more over the original ask price.
In part due to seasonality, new listings for detached homes rose 26.62 percent from last month. However, this is a 63.73 percent jump from last year for new listings. Pending sales rose 27.15 percent to 562 properties and 599 closed homes, a 17.91 percent increase from last month. Unsurprisingly, the average days in MLS decreased to 14 days from 17 last month, while the median days in MLS of four held strong month-over-month.
The close-price-to-list-price ratio jumped slightly to 108.45 percent up just 0.39 percent from last month. Most notably, this data point was 102.62 percent this time last year, which means there has been a 5.68 percent rise in the last year. As such, the price per square foot total also jumped 16.27 percent from last year to $386 per square foot.
“The spring selling season is off to a great stat and it feels as though more inventory is becoming available than even the data represents,” said Libby Levinson-Katz, DMAR Market Trends Committee member and Metro Denver Realtor®. “My partner and I have had more listings this year than we’ve ever had which feels like a slight change in the marketplace with more Denverites opting to either sell investment properties, move out of state or jump into this crazed market. For perspective, the Luxury Market year-to-date has 2,350 new listings with 1,793 closed. Back in 2018, there were 1,283 new listings with 649 closed properties.”
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Latest mortgage news: Rates Resume Rise
With inflation still posing a threat to the economy, mortgage rates resumed rising this week. The average rate on 30-year mortgages climbed to 5.36 percent, up from 5.27 percent last week, according to Bankrate’s national survey of large lenders.
Competing forces are pushing rates in opposite directions. “The inflation concerns remain intact, but worries about slowing economic growth have increased,” says Greg McBride, Bankrate’s chief financial analyst. “The tug of war between worries about inflation (higher rates) and an economic slowdown (lower rates) will keep mortgage rates rangebound for a bit.”
The Federal Reserve has intensified its fight against inflation — in April, prices rocketed at an annual clip of 8.3 percent. The Fed at the beginning of May raised rates half a point, its largest rate hike in decades. The central bank directly moves interest rates on some mortgage products, namely adjustable-rate mortgages and home equity loans. Fed policy has fewer ramifications for fixed mortgage rates, which more closely follow 10-year Treasury yields.
For borrowers, the recent run-up in rates marks an end of the historically low rates that characterized the period following the global financial crash of 2008 and 2009.
A year ago, the benchmark 30-year fixed-rate mortgage was at 3.13 percent. Four weeks ago, the rate was 5.46 percent. The 30-year fixed-rate average for this week is 2.36 percentage points higher than the 52-week low of 3 percent.
The 30-year fixed mortgages in this week’s survey had an average total of 0.4 discount and origination points.
Over the past 52 weeks, the 30-year fixed has averaged 3.77 percent.
Where mortgage rates are headed
Some mortgage experts think that rates are done rising.
“Mortgage rates are likely to plateau near current levels,” Mike Fratantoni, chief economist at the Mortgage Bankers Association, said recently. “The financial markets have attempted to price in the impact of Fed actions over this cycle, and they are likely also pricing in the economic slowdown that will result. Once we are past this rate spike and associated volatility, MBA expects that potential homebuyers may be more willing to re-enter the market.”
Mortgage experts who responded to Bankrate’s latest survey say rates are being pressured by the rising prices in the broader economy. Jim Sahnger of C2 Financial Corp. in Jupiter, Florida, is among those predicting higher rates. “Inflation drives interest rates higher, and that’s what we’re living with,” says Sahnger.
Worries about runaway inflation are weighing on stocks and on U.S. Treasury yields, which this week hovered in the range of 2.9 percent. The official inflation figure for April came in at 8.3 percent, one of the highest levels in four decades and a reliable predictor of higher mortgage rates. With inflation running hot, the Fed has indicated it intends to raise rates several times in the coming months. What’s more, the Fed is selling off some of the securities it bought to stave off the coronavirus recession.
As rates have blown past 5 percent, the refinancing boom of 2020 and 2021 seems all but over. Rate-and-term refinance activity dropped by 80 percent in the first quarter of 2022, according to mortgage data firm Black Knight. The name of the game now for homeowners sitting on mounds of equity is cash-out refinances, which accounted for 75 percent of refinances in Q1 2022.
In a disconnect, home prices have been soaring even as mortgage rates rise. The median price for existing houses sold in April was $391,200, up 15 percent from April 2021, the National Association of Realtors reports.
“Eventually mortgage rates will slow down home prices, but it hasn’t happened so far,” says Ken H. Johnson, an economist at Florida Atlantic University. “We should not see rapid upticks in prices as mortgage rates rise. It’s that kind of exuberance that led to past housing downturns.”
Economists had expected rates to rise by the end of 2022, but the surge in rates in the past two months has many forecasters wondering what comes next. As mortgage rates climb, competition should remain intense for the time being among those who can afford to buy.
“There are two sides to rising rates,” says Skylar Olsen, principal economist at real estate technology firm Tomo. “Monthly affordability will take a hit, but we’ll also shake off more of the investor types looking for the leverage of a lifetime, so lifting rates could also mean a saner market. Rates that low caused all sorts of households to rush in, and without the supply to match, price growth has been violent. That stresses affordability too. The fundamentals of demographics, life and built-up savings will still push primary purchases forward. Less heat in housing is good.”
The Bankrate.com national survey of large lenders is conducted weekly. To conduct the National Average survey, Bankrate obtains rate information from the 10 largest banks and thrifts in 10 large U.S. markets. In the Bankrate.com national survey, our Market Analysis team gathers rates and/or yields on banking deposits, loans and mortgages. We’ve conducted this survey in the same manner for more than 30 years, and because it’s consistently done the way it is, it gives an accurate national apples-to-apples comparison. Our rates differ from other national surveys, in particular Freddie Mac’s weekly published rates. Each week Freddie Mac surveys lenders on the rates and points based on first-lien prime conventional conforming home purchase mortgages with a loan-to-value of 80 percent. “Lenders surveyed each week are a mix of lender types – thrifts, credit unions, commercial banks and mortgage lending companies – is roughly proportional to the level of mortgage business that each type commands nationwide,” according to Freddie Mac.
Multi generation buying is nothing new, but it’s something that will change how we buy a home and can pass on a legacy to our children.
Have you considered buying a home with your parents, sisters, brothers? What if you combine your incomes together, and that afforded you to buy land, a home with separate entrances like a walk out basement. In which you will still have some privacy, but now you live in the perfect location and have the perfect home that fits all your needs. There are 3 things to consider that affect your budget for a home: Location, Condition, and Size of a home. In this market you have to give up at least one of these to be able to buy. But how about getting all of these, just by putting your income together with people you consider your family. Once you have built enough equity, you then would use that equity together to buy another home for the next member of the family, and so on. This is the epitome of Teamwork, Makes the Dream Work.
Let’s look at what a 3-bedroom single family home will cost.
Total for closing 26,250 just to get the home. But what about being able to outbid other buyers. Do you have an extra 50k to outbid, right now buyers are outbidding by around 20% over asking. On top of that you’re not able to buy where you want, and or take the home as is.
So, you can see why combining your income, your resources, can help with the overwhelming cost and put your family in a position to save, and to build real estate wealth.
Rora Berhe
Glass Properties Group
Keller Williams Urban Elite.
Investors kept up their steady pace of home purchases in the first three months of 2022, although they’re buying fewer homes now than they have through most of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Seattle-based Redfin Corp. (NASDAQ: RDFN) found the number of homes purchased by real estate investors in the first quarter declined 11.5% from the fourth quarter of 2021 and 16.5% from Q3 2021. But investor purchases made up a larger share of the housing market in Q1, owing to an overall decrease in home purchases nationally.
Still, many U.S. metro areas remain targets for investors, especially hot Sun Belt cities that’ve posted material rent gains. Those markets also happen to be the most competitive for owner-occupiers.
Investor purchases of homes in Denver were down 24.7% in Q1 2022, compared to the same quarter a year prior, while investor purchases were up 17% year over year, Redfin reported. While the median sale price of investor-purchased Denver homes in Q1 2022 reached $535,850, a total of $1.16 billion was invested in homes during the first quarter.
Only a few cities analyzed by Redfin saw larger drops in investor purchases quarter over quarter: Atlanta (-24.7%), Milwaukee (-26.7%), Portland (-28.1%) and Minneapolis (-30.3%).
Investors made up 17.1% of the homes bought in Denver during the first quarter of 2022, a 2.9% jump from Q1 2021, Redfin reported.
Redfin looked at 40 large metro areas for its analysis, applying the term “investor” to any purchasing entity containing LLC, Inc., Trust, Corp. or Homes in its name. The data doesn’t include notable metro areas, such as major Texas cities, because of sales-price nondisclosures in certain counties.
It’s possible investors will buy fewer homes as interest rates continue to climb.
Institutional investors typically have the capital on hand to make cash offers, often out-competing individual homebuyers. That can have a dramatic impact on the market in places like Denver, where the median price of homes is up 12.3% compared to last year and may hit an average price of $1 million soon.
Data for institutional investor activity wasn’t available for every U.S. metropolitan statistical area but MSAs that include Port St. Lucie, Florida; Virginia Beach-Norfolk-Newport News, Virginia; New York-Newark-Jersey City, New Jersey; Knoxville, Tennessee; Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach, Florida; and Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, Virginia, all posted more than 60% annual declines in the share of institutional investors purchasing homes in Q1.
Port St. Lucie saw the biggest decline, 70%, in institutional investor activity among markets tracked by Irvine, California-based Attom Data Solutions LLC, from 9.9% of all home sales in Q1 2021 to 3% in Q1 2022.
A few saw a notable uptick, though, including Charleston-North Charleston, South Carolina; Las Vegas-Henderson-Paradise, Nevada; and Winston-Salem, North Carolina, all of which saw a 60% annual increase in the share of institutional investors buying homes in the first quarter.
The share of institutional investors’ home purchases in Charleston grew the most — more than doubling from 3.2% of home purchases in Q1 2021 to 6.8% in Q1 2022.
Rising mortgage rates are moving the housing market in a new direction since the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic-induced boom.
But what impact escalating interest rates will have on investors that buy homes to rent them out is to be determined, although first-quarter investor purchasing activity gives early indication that investors are slowing their pace of homebuying.
Seattle-based Redfin Corp. (NASDAQ: RDFN) found the number of homes purchased by real estate investors in the first quarter declined 11.5% from the fourth quarter of 2021 and 16.5% from Q3 2021. Despite that, investor purchases made up a larger share of the housing market, purchasing a record 20% of homes that sold in Q1, an increase from 19.2% in Q4 2021 and 15.3% from Q1 2021.
That’s owing to a slowing housing market in the first quarter, which saw a decrease in overall home purchases nationally, according to Redfin.
Sheharyar Bokhari, senior economist at Redfin, said the reasons for fewer investor purchases in Q1 could vary but rising interest rates are likely a factor.
Whether investors or owner-occupiers are more sensitive to rising rates is something Thomas Malone, an economist at Irvine, California-based CoreLogic Inc., is watching closely. He said it’s just a guess at this point but he suspects investors might be more sensitive to that upward movement.
“Investors would be considering real estate amongst a broad set of asset classes to invest in whereas, for a homeowner, buying is more of a lifestyle choice,” he said. An owner-occupier may opt for a smaller home or one in a different neighborhood when faced with higher costs to buy a home, whereas investors could reallocate capital out of real estate.
Bokhari said the expectation is sellers aren’t going to be able to sell their homes as quickly as they have, especially as they did last year, which’ll result in price cuts. Investors may, therefore, be holding off to take advantage of better deals down the line.
Investors who purchase homes to flip them relatively quickly will likely also slow their activity, in anticipation of slower home-price appreciation, Bokhari said. Already, the share of iBuyers, or instant buyers, in the U.S. housing market has slowed. The 12,652 homes sold by homeowners using an iBuying service in Q1 represented 1.3% of all U.S. home sales, down from 1.7% in Q4 2021.
Not much changed in the geographic makeup of where investors were most prolific in Q1.
Atlanta saw $2.7 billion in investor sales in Q1, making up 33.1% of all homes purchased by an investor that quarter, the most of any major metro area tracked by Redfin. Jacksonville, Florida, ranked No. 2, with $705.8 million in investor purchases in Q1 comprising 32.3% of that metro area. Charlotte, North Carolina, came in third, with $1.15 billion in home purchases by investors, or 32.2% market share.
Given all of the investor activity it’s seen, some homeowners associations have implemented or cracked down on restrictions to try and prevent investor activity in their neighborhood. Through piecemeal efforts, a growing number of communities have sought to put guardrails in place to combat such purchases.
In one Charlotte neighborhood, Berewick, at least seven homes owned by limited-liability company or limited partnership entities are currently available for sale. The entities are affiliated with American Homes 4 Rent (NYSE: AMH), an Agora Hills, California-based REIT that specializes in single-family rental homes.
Brian Hamelink, the listing agent, said his client decided to sell the homes because of changing restrictions in the neighborhood. A copy of the neighborhood’s community charter obtained by The Business Journals says owners in the neighborhood cannot collectively lease, or offer for lease, more than one unit at any time.
The investor-owned homes on the market in the Berewick neighborhood is an anomaly to what Hamelink said he’s seeing throughout Charlotte, even with rising interest rates.
“The appetite for homes in Charlotte is, right now, as great as it’s ever been,” he said. “Funds are in town, looking to build large portfolios. I don’t see the acquisition of homes slowing down.”
If there is some kind of pullback in home prices, which hasn’t been evident yet in a market like Charlotte, Hamelink said investor activity will likely only increase.
Nobu Hata, CEO of Denver Metro Association of Realtors, said during a media briefing this week the institutional buyer share of the broader Denver metro area is 14% higher than the national average, citing National Association of Realtors data. Rents are going up because of that.
Wendy DiVicchio, CEO of Las Vegas Realtors, also during the call said investors buying up homes have pushed rents for single-family rentals from about $2,000 to, now, $2,800 to $3,200.
As month-end active inventory skyrockets, the Denver Metro hit a new record for the average price of attached properties at $504,193. At the end of June 2021, Denver Metro ended with 3,122 properties on the market. It has now almost doubled that amount over the year, with a total of 6,057 properties currently sitting on the market.
Buyers are feeling the woes of the economy. Many first-time homebuyers who were initially pre-approved towards the beginning of the year with a specific interest rate decided to wait to buy until it wasn’t as competitive. But, when they restarted their search in May, they found that it was with an increased interest rate.
On the other hand, many sellers may have closed on a home earlier in the spring, meaning they went under contract with a certain interest rate, but decided to wait to sell their own home until they moved into their new one. And the consequence they saw is longer time on the market and potentially slight price reductions.
“The increase in supply will eventually impact pricing, days in the MLS and the relationship between buyers and sellers, which have negatively impacted buyers’ purchasing power,” commented Andrew Abrams, Chair of the DMAR Market Trends Committee and Metro Denver Realtor®. “The stock market, inflation and cryptocurrency have all taken a hit in the last few months. Housing will eventually be a victim to the economy as a whole, but just how much is yet to be seen. It is realistic to see days in the MLS, currently sitting at a historic low of four, increase in the coming months.”
As we enter the second half of 2022, there is less competition for those getting into the market, but the cost of waiting has been significant for many first-time homebuyers. Interest rates are perceived to be high at the moment but may very easily continue to increase if inflation doesn’t decrease at a more rapid pace. With the 65.85 percent increase in inventory compared to the previous month, Denver Metro should expect more balance and multiple months with prices not going up. This is reflected in months-of-inventory, which is now at 1.19, the first time it has been above one in months since June of 2020.
Our monthly report also includes statistics and analyses in its supplemental “Luxury Market Report” (properties sold for $1 million or greater), “Signature Market Report” (properties sold between $750,000 and $999,999), “Premier Market Report” (properties sold between $500,000 and $749,999), and “Classic Market” (properties sold between $300,000 and $499,999).
Akin to the overall market, the Luxury Market homes saw an adjustment as the Denver Metro hit the midway point of 2022. While all other pricing segments saw double-digit increases in new listings, there were more new listings in June for the Luxury Market but only a 6.82 percent increase.
The number of pending sales of detached homes dropped 21.87 percent month-over-month. Attached home pending sales were down 42.86 percent from May but closed sales increased 11.11 percent month over month. The amount buyers paid over the listing price also dropped from 106.85 percent in May to 103.71 percent in June. That means, on average, they still paid above the list price and more per square foot. That is the highest above asking price of all of the market segments.
“Luxury attached home sales were boosted by the completed sales of nine of 10 units at 1955 3rd Street in Boulder. Odonata is a boutique community with the nine units closing between, $2,980,390 and $3,542,863,” said Jill Schafer, DMAR Market Trends Committee member and Metro Denver Realtor®. “Overall, the sales volume of luxury homes increased significantly over $5 billion year-to-date for the first time at the midway point of the year. That’s a lot of luxury home sales, especially considering that two years ago at this time sales volume of luxury homes was only about $1.58 billion.”
Those who sold homes above $1 million didn’t have to wait long for an offer as the days in the MLS remained at an average of four for detached homes but inched up a day to five for attached homes. The average total price per square foot for detached luxury homes was up to $379 year-to-date, an 11.80 percent increase from 2021.
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The house style Colorado residents find most attractive is among the most-favored styles nationwide, according to a recent report from the online home improvement services marketplace HomeAdvisor.
Cottage-style homes are the most popular in Colorado, according to the report that surveyed 2,263 Americans on their house style preferences this past May.
Cottage homes are known for their coziness and small size, usually including stone or wood elements and a porch, HomeAdvisor said.
Cottages were also scored as the most popular style in the U.S., securing 11% of votes with Gen Z as a top advocate, according to the report.
Connecticut, Missouri, Nebraska, Washington and Oklahoma were among the other states reporting cottage-style homes as their most preferred.
Other popular styles in Colorado include contemporary and Mediterranean. Contemporary-style homes were also found to be the most popular among Colorado’s neighbors, Utah and Kansas.
Cottages in Colorado are mostly selling for over $500,000, reaching into the millions and as low as $195,000, according to ZeroDown, a site for home sale searching.
Attached homes in the Denver metro area reached a record-high average sales price of $504,193, while single-family homes’ average sale price was $810,415, according to the June report from the Denver Metro Association of Realtors (DMAR).
Perhaps because of those high prices, according to the HomeAdvisor report, 76% of Americans would purchase a house that is deemed “ugly” on the outside but “perfect” on the inside.
As for external home features, the report found that porches matter most to nationwide residents surveyed, 29% of whom voted that feature as the most important.
The report also found that 54% of Americans prefer to purchase a new home while 46% said they would invest in a vintage home.
Adobe and contemporary-style homes were voted as the nation’s least popular, scoring 14% and 12% of votes for least favorite, respectively. But contemporary was also listed as a national favorite, at 10% of that vote, revealing a polarizing take on the style. Adobe only earned 6% of the vote for most-favored style.
Colorado’s second-favorite home style was contemporary while the state’s least favorites were traditional, colonial and townhouses.
The nationwide analysis did not include Rhode Island, Delaware, Idaho, Hawaii, Montana, North Dakota, Vermont, Alaska, South Dakota and Wyoming due to insufficient survey responses.
HomeAdvisor merged with Angie’s List in 2017 to form the Denver-based company Angi Inc. (Nasdaq: ANGI).
Keller Williams Realty, Inc. is a real estate franchise company. Each Keller Williams office is independently owned and operated. Keller Williams Realty, Inc. is an Equal Opportunity Employer and supports the Fair Housing Act.