Denver lands close to 30% of $1 million-plus home sales

This home at 3220 Zuni St. in Highland is priced at just over $1 million. It is listed by Dee Chirafisi of Kentwood City Properties.

This home at 3220 Zuni St. in Highland is priced at just over $1 million. It is listed by Dee Chirafisi of Kentwood City Properties.

Almost one out of every four homes sold and closed in the metro area in 2009 took place in Denver. And almost 30 percent of the homes sold above $1 million were in Denver.

An analysis of Metrolist data by independent broker Gary Bauer shows that 10,010 homes closed in the Denver area last year, accounting for 23.8 percent of the 42,027 home sales in the metro area last year. Arapahoe County was No. 2, with 8,230 single-family homes and condo closings last year.

That may not be too surprising.

“Denver usually seems to get the largest percentage of the buyers, except during the time when Douglas County was really growing like gangbusters,” Bauer said. During much of the 1990s, Douglas County was the fastest growing counties in the U.S. and is still one of the fastest. (Indeed, I remember writing a story at the Rocky Mountain News during the ’90s that Highlands Ranch in Douglas County accounted for one of five out of every new and used-homes sold.)

Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper said that given Denver’s size, Denver’s showing last year isn’t startling.

“Denver accounts for 22.2 percent of the metro area’s population,”  Hickenlooper said. “So we are doing a bit above that for home sales, but not much more. Denver is right about where it should be.”

Hickenlooper did say that a Realtor-friend recently mentioned to him that sales activity seems to have picked up recently.

Read the full story at InsideRealEstateNews.com

John Rebchook

More Real Estate News from John Rebchook's Inside Real Estate News

John Rebchook has more than 30 years of experience in writing and communications. As the Real Estate Editor for the Rocky Mountain News, he wrote about residential and commercial real estate for 26 years. He has won numerous awards for business stories and columns that he wrote, both as an individual and part of teams. In addition to real estate, he also covered economic development, banking and financing, the airlines, and cable TV for the Rocky. In addition, he was one of the original freelance writers for GlobeSt.com, covering commercial real estate for the Internet publication.! Visit John Rebchook's Inside Real Estate News

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