Metro Denver and Colorado Springs Inch Into the 10 Least Affordable U.S. Housing Markets

Rising home prices and a lack of inventory have pushed the Denver and Colorado Springs metros into the top 10 most unaffordable housing markets in the U.S., The Denver Post reports. Metro Denver advanced four spots to the eighth least affordable market in the country, while Colorado Springs took the tenth spot in February’s affordability survey from OJO Labs.

The median home sold price in Denver rose over 20% year-over-year to $540,000 in February, the fourth highest price tag in the nation, surpassing even New York and Boston in the Northeast. Colorado Springs absorbed unmet demand from Denver and saw a subsequent median home sold price of $440,000, which is 5.62 times the median household income.

A lack of supply is driving strong home price appreciation and contributing to unaffordability. Colorado as a state had the fifth most competitive housing market in the country in February, with 58.4% of homes selling above the initial list price, compared to only 47.2% in January, [Patrick] Kearnes said.

“With historically low inventory, it looks like more bidding wars and more offers above list price are really driving up home prices,” he said.

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