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Seven Colorado Towns Overview

[0:00] I'm going to show you the seven Colorado cities where home prices are projected to crash going into 2026 and why the news is telling everybody to get out of Colorado. But you know, here's the thing. They're only telling you guys half the story. I've been helping people move to Colorado for the last two decades now, and it is the best state in the country in my opinion. But in this video, I want to show you why these cities are projected to lose value and how you can actually take advantage of it like many of my buyers are. Now, this isn't my information. And this isn't my bias. This is based on census data and population, not on price exactly. Why?

[0:36] Because where cities are losing people, prices will generally follow. Starting with number seven on our list, which is the town of Golden. Now, Golden's population is down8%. The median price per square foot here that we can see is down already by 7.8% so far in 2026. That's a pretty big jump. Now, why am I looking at median price per square foot because the closed price doesn't always reflect it. If we come over here and look at the median close price, we're actually up 5.3% up to about 900,000. But the reason why the price per square foot is so important, and this will follow us through every city that we're looking at, is because there's a disparity right now in the market. Properties that are firsttime home buyer prices, we're talking 5600,000 here in the Denver metro area.

Golden: Mountain Access Appeal

[1:25] Yes, that's a first-time home price in the Denver metro area. Uh that buyer pool is getting more affected by rates on homes that are north of a million dollars, right? 50% of transaction that close over a million dollars are going to be cash. Not so much the case with properties that are priced at $500,000. So most properties right now around that 500 mark, you can actually rent for less than you can for buying it. So people are making the decision just to continue to be a renter. So less properties are selling at a lower price than are selling at a higher price. So it's going to skew the median total dollar amount.

[2:01] But when you break it down to price per square foot, this really shows you what's going on in the market. And like I said in Golden so far, we are down 7.8% yearoveryear. Now where is Golden, in case you don't know, it is on the western side of the metro area. Here's downtown Denver. Town of Golden Proper is here. Now, when you look on a map and you're looking at properties, you're going to see stuff all the way into the foothills here, uh, because that's kind of the unincorporated Golden, but the actual town of Golden is rather small.

[2:30] And if you were looking here today, you know, in the 800s, which there's not going to be a whole lot below 700 in the town of Golden, you do have something like this. It is 2200 ft², three bedrooms, three baths. It is going to be a good size home. It's going to be a nice home built in the '9s. May not be fully updated. You know, this is original cabinets, some newer appliances here, uh, possibly original flooring.

[2:52] You know, it's not going to be anything whisbang here at this price range, unfortunately, because you're living in Golden. And Golden has an appeal to lots of people who prioritize the outdoor lifestyle, right? You are literally seconds from hiking, mountain biking, uh trails, worldclass, everything that you could possibly want quite literally out your back door. As well as skiing, right? Skiing, you're going to be 20 to 30 minutes closer than anybody lives in downtown Denver to get to all the ski hills between Breen Ridge and Veil and Keystone and ABS and Lovelin. Like you're right there at the entrance to the mountains. And so that's a huge appeal. Whitewater kayaking. There's a huge river that goes through Golden that they have a whitewater park built here for that. So, it attracts a lot of people and there's not a whole lot of new builds that can happen in Golden proper. So, it kind of limits, you know, how much growth there's going to potentially be. And I think with the prices, it's going to get a lot of downward pressure here and with losing some of the population, that's not going to help. Now, if you were also looking here today a little bit further west into the foothills, which is still Golden Proper at about 2.25, you can actually have a beautiful home on land, a lot of horse properties out here. You know, this is definitely more that foothills living. You're going to have a lot more maintenance on your homes here, but you can have beautiful homes with incredible views in the $2 million range west of the town of Golden Property. Now, if you are thinking of making a move here to the Denver metro area, call me, text me, feel free, reach out. I love answering questions about what's going on in our market, but if you aren't ready to talk yet, I would urge you download my relocation buyer guide here. It's going to answer so many of the questions that I know are just trickling around in the back of your head. Now, getting on to number six.

Centennial: Tech Center Living

[4:43] This one surprised me a little bit because it's such a staple of the Denver metro area, and that is Centennial. The population here is actually down 1.4% in recent years. Now, the median price here is only down 04% on the price per square foot, and the close price shows that it's up 5% year-over-year. But again, Centennial is kind of built into a box. There's not a whole lot of building that can happen here. And you can see it's right here kind of to the east and to the south of the Denver Tech Center.

[5:17] You've got downtown Denver. Centennial kind of verges over I25 and kind of has some funky lines to it, you know. So, who's moving here to Centennial? Well, this attracts a lot of move up buyers that are young families from more of the city center that want four bedrooms, three baths now, and they want 2500 square ft. Uh they want a house built in the 80s or 90s. Uh there are a lot of little bit older ranches there built in the 60s as well, but this is your typical like suburb feeling as you can possibly get into the Denver metro area. You get a lot of people that are moving here from uh that are working at the tech center, right? Uh because it's right there, you know, but it's people that kind of want to get away from a little bit more of the hustle and bustle of the city and have a little bit more of that suburban type of feel. Now, if you were looking today in Centennial, something like this in the 500s at 580,000, 24,00 ft², four bedrooms, two baths, and this one is actually decently updated. This is just a a single level ranch here. Nothing too crazy, but in the 500s, you know, this is what you can get here. And I think you're getting more competition from some of these other suburbs. And there's not as much of a huge draw to Centennial like there would be for uh you know Parker or Castle Rock uh you know Erie up north which are some of the more booming suburbs around town which have a little bit more to offer than Centennial. So I think there's going to be some downward pressure here since they are losing some population. It just is kind of fallen out of favor a little bit. But again, I think this is only where opportunity lies is when you start getting price depreciation in markets. Now, if you had a little bit more of a budget, yes, in the 1 millions at 1.6 here, 5200 square ft. Looks like this was built in 2016, uh, this is going to be a newer home, right? It's going to be a beautiful home. High ceilings, exquisite finishes throughout. Like, you can get a lot of home for mid ones in the Centennial market here where Wash Park, this something like this just doesn't even exist, right? It's not even an option even at that $4 million range. I don't think you're going to get anything close uh to what you can get here in Centennial. And so that's kind of the appeal to it. Your dollar does go a lot further, but yes, I think there's going to be some downward pressure. Coming in at number five. This one surprised me a little bit because of its medium price.

[7:41] That's going to be Westminster. You know, Westminster tends to attract people who are on a budget. They don't want to be in Denver proper. Um they don't want to be in Aurora. Uh, and it's kind of in between Boulder and Denver when you look at it on a map here. And it generally is that kind of affordable option which has had a good uptrend for a long time. But we can see here that the median price per square foot is down 5.4% year-over-year, which is kind of a big deal considering the median price is right in the 500s. Now, the median price is showing is up 10%. This is a perfect example of what I'm talking about where uh figures can kind of fudge with the numbers a little bit. You're like, man, that's up 10%. That's a huge amount year-over-year. Well, there's a lot of inexpensive homes here in Westminster and they just aren't selling. Uh they just aren't sitting. They are sitting around the homes in the 400s here. You know, if you were going to look today, first of all, the map of where it is, it's right in between here. This is downtown Denver. Here's Boulder up to the northwest. Westminster sits smack dab in the middle. So, location-wise, it's actually good for access to things like hiking. You know, if you work in Boulder, you can have Boulder without paying Broomfield superior prices, eerie prices or Boulder prices, uh, which not many can afford, you know, and so you get you get this good mix of inexpensive homes, but the problem with that is that people can't afford the $400,000 homes.

Westminster & Wheat Ridge

[9:07] they can afford million-dollar homes, you know, that's a different buyer pool, but they just can't afford the $400,000 homes. Uh, and so that's going to put a lot of pressure on pricing downwards. You know, right now, if you were looking 1,600 ft², $430,000, you have something like this home that is in good shape, but they've already done price drops on this thing. you know, it's a buy level home, you know, nothing crazy and it's just a good everyday starter home, you know, but they started at $450 back in September. They're down to $432 right now. And that's a decent looking home.

[9:40] Why? Because this same house to rent is probably $2,200 a month. And if you were going to buy this, even with 5 to 10% down, you're likely going to be paying north of three grand a month to get into this house. So, that's the decision people are having to make. Uh, you know, if you have a little bit more of a budget around a million bucks in Westminster, 3,800 ft², you get a beautiful home built in the late '9s.

[10:00] Threecar garage, open floor plans, you're going to have views from here in Westminster, which is really nice. It's going to be a great home. And so, your dollar does go quite a bit further, but this is not the market that's going to be hurting primarily in Westminster. It's going to be that sub 500 zone. Uh, and we're continuing to see downward pressure all throughout the city in that price range. Coming in at number four, wheat rich. Most people haven't even really explored Wheat Ridge much because it's not a huge area, but the population is down 1.8%. So now we're starting to move the needle a little bit. We're starting to lose some people. And when we look at the price per square foot here, we're down 1.2% and the closed price is showing is up 4.1%. Again, a perfect example of what's going on here and where the numbers aren't telling the true story. So on a map, first of all, Wheat Ridge is on the western side of town. you're going to think more of like Sloan's Lake area. You know, it's kind of verging up against Wheat Ridge. Uh it feels more like Lakewood kind of. It's just to the south of Arvvada. Uh and it's just kind of this interesting little pocket. There's some nice mid-century moderns there, but there's not a real feel to Wheatidge. Like, you don't know you're in Wheatidge. You know, if you were looking today in the 700s, and this is kind of the challenging part, the prices here are pretty darn high. In the 700s, you've got a single level ranch. It's five bedrooms, two bathrooms, but you know, it's updated, but not open floor plans, not high ceilings. And so in the 700s, you just have options that are beating out, you know, living in Wheatidge, places like Castle Rock, Parker, where 700,000 gets you a 4,000 foot home. You know, yes, you're a little bit further out. So unless you have to be close to the city, like not many people are prioritizing moving to Wheatidge. Little bit more of a budget, $1.3 million. So, they're down 100,000, 3,300 square ft².

[11:51] They've been on the market since the beginning of December, so already getting into 3 months here, and you get kind of this sprawling ranch. Uh, this has been fully updated, which is beautiful. This is a beautifully done home. But there just aren't too many buyers in this price range uh in Wheatidge. They they would rather go over the Golden area, get into the foothills, get further south into Littleton. um you know because again unless you have to prioritize being in the city like Wheatidge doesn't have this huge pull for people to want to be there. Moving on to number three and I was surprised at this one and this one might be top two of I think the biggest opportunities on this entire list.

[12:34] Arvvada. So the Arvvada population is actually down 2.4% yearoveryear which I was really surprised at. And the price per square foot is down 4.2%. 2% yearover-year. Now, the close price is also down 3.9%. So, this is tracking a little bit more onto that trend. Arvvada like is one of my favorite suburbs of the Denver metro area and is pretty big. I think the population here is north of 100,000. So, it's one of the larger cities around the Denver metro area and it butts up all the way to the west against the foothills here. If you work in Boulder, not a bad drive, right? If you work over at DTC, not a terrible drive. Just a straight shot over I7. You work in downtown Denver, not horrible.

[13:14] Work in DTC, starts to get north of that 30inut drive, you know, but you have great access to everything here. And who does it attract? It attracts a lot of families. Uh, you know, because you can actually get a lot of house for 7 800,000 here. 600s, there are still quite a few options, but for some reason, we're seeing a decrease in population. Um, and so I think that's going to start putting pressure on prices going down. We are seeing a big uptick in inventory here as well, which is rather interesting. You know, if you were to look today in the 600s, you have something like this 2200 ft². Again, they've been on the market for several months already. Started at 650. They had to do a price drop already. You know, this is you have a lot more of your typical ranches here, right? The 2,000 square ft, fourbedroom, two baths. But this house is going to be moderately updated. You know, looks like it was done maybe 10, 15 years ago or so. And so, it's not going to be a bad house.

[14:10] You do have decent sized lots here. These are your everyday homes for the most part. Now, you do have some more new builds here in Arvana, but not a ton that are done in much smaller kind of pockets. There wasn't a whole lot of land where you could build a,000 homes, but here 1.275 4,400 ft². You kind of backed up to open space here. three-story house, uh, threec car garage, beautiful home, seven bedrooms, incredible kitchen, open floor plans, like as much home as most people would ever want. Primary bathrooms to die for, views galore, like workout rooms, you know, and that's in the low 1 millions, which for the Denver metro area is not that bad considering what you're getting for your dollars here. But with the population declining here, uh, that's going to put some pressure on here. But this is one of my more favorite opportunities here. So, if you can get in and get something at 10, 15, 20% below, find that person who's been on the market for 3 4 months, you know, and put in an aggressive offer, you're going to be surprised how many counterback within a reasonable price. Now, coming in at number two, again, this is one of my top two opportunity moves here. if you're looking to move to the Denver metro area. This is Littleton. So Littleton's population is down 2.7% yearover-year. And a big part of that is that Littleton's population is kind of aging, right? A lot of people have lived in Littleton for a long time. You're going to find a lot of 1950s60s ranches that are original and that population is kind of exiting and so it's making room but the houses aren't selling as quickly to put in, you know, families of four, five or six into there, but their median price is actually down for their closed price 5.4% yearoveryear.

Littleton: Market Decline

[16:01] Their price per square foot price is just about break even here. Uh, so what that's telling me is that the whole lot of houses, whether it's there's not too many houses under 500,000 here. So this is how it actually kind of makes sense. The entire lot of houses is selling for a little bit less. Littleton on a map. So when you pull it up, you're going to see some kind of disparities. You're going to see this highlighted area, which is Littleton proper, but you're also going to see way down in Ken Carl, if you were to pull an address up here, it also comes up as Littleton, Colorado.

[16:31] And then you're also going to see down in Sterling Ranch, South Chatfield come up as Littleton. So some maps will pull this up as the entire southwest section of Littleton. And so everything outside of this map is kind of the unincorporated stuff. Uh you know, Ken Carroll making up the largest chunk of it. Now here you have a huge uh array of different styles of hopes, but it is getting further from things. you know, working in the tech center uh starts to get a little bit more of a drive, especially if you're on the western side. Drive to DIA gets a lot further away. But the upside is you have access to foothills and some of the best hiking around the Denver metro area 10 minutes to the southwest of you here. You have access to Chatfield Reservoir. So again, surprise at Littleton prices in general are getting this pressure. I think the pressure is going to continue here because the inventory of homes is continuing to grow. But this is where your opportunity comes in to strike.

[17:26] Same thing with Arvvada offering 5 10 15% below asking price. I know that sounds crazy, but if they've been on the market for a long time, like it's not out of question. Now here, if you were looking today in the 700s, there's not much below 600s in Littleton. You can find it, but it's more town houses and condos. In the 700s, you know, you've got something like this 2,700 ft², 730,000, just your typical two-story home. Not terribly updated. It is just a home. It's probably nice. Um, finishes are done maybe 10, 15 years ago.

[17:58] Everyday home, you know, beautiful home on an average size lot. Uh, you know, 1.2 4,400 ft. I think this one's in Ken Carroll Ranch. Quite a bit more updated. This is more of a coveted area where you get these kind of sprawling ranches, a little bit older of a feel, more mature trees, like just a really, really nice neighborhood. I've got some clients who live here. Um, and it's a great place, you know, uh, you know, but the turnover is low as well, but you get good-sized homes here, but yeah, you got to pay 1.2 to get there. That if money is no object, you can buy for 11 million, almost 15,000 square ft. You could have a castle in the foothills with the fivecar garage, um, and out building a barn that I would take the barn. I would live in the rafters in the barn. I would be fine with that. uh with where this thing is located. This thing is remarkable and you get a lot of outcropping features in Littleton. I mean, this house, you know, there's not much you can say about it. It should be in magazines. Everything is going to be glorious. Top end finishes for $1 million. Um you've even got the most incredible views of some of the plateaus here in Littleton of Golden area. You've got a pool. You know, like I said, there's there's a lot you can say about this house, but you know, you don't have to go anywhere. This is kind of your own retreat. This is your own kind of safe haven. You've even got a gym in here.

[19:27] You've got a wine celler. You've got your own basketball court. You've got your own home theater, right? Like, I don't know what else to say about it. Outside space-wise is to die for. Like, you feel like a celebrity being in this home. I mean, you got a water slide for crying out loud. Uh, but again, if money is no object, $11 million gets you one of the most beautiful homes in the world. Now, before we get on to number one here, if you are looking at the Denver metro area, I mean, I moved here 25 years ago. I still love this place.

[19:55] And yes, there is opportunity here for the first time that I've seen in about 15 years where you don't have to be competing against, you know, a dozen other buyers. Feel free, reach out, call me. I'd be happy to answer whatever questions you have looming over or just download my buyer guide here. It's going to answer so many of the questions that you have floating around in your head. But coming in at number one, again, this one shocked me a little bit because of where it is. Lewisville. Lewisville's population is down 3.9% year-over-year.

Lewisville: Pricing Opportunity

[20:24] Now, what's interesting here is that their closed price is down 4%. And their price per square foot is up 2.8%. Now, I think this purely has to do with how many homes actually sell here in Lewisville, which is it's only a handful of months. So, these numbers, especially in the early winter months, can be skewed really, really tough. Now, it's super expensive to build in Lewisville. And if you don't know where it is on a map, it's north of northwest of Westminster that we were looking at a few minutes ago. Um, it's kind of a suburb of Boulder. It's all kind of getting wrapped up into the metro area of Denver these days. Um, but it's a good size space. They have a cute little downtown area just like with Lafayette, but their median price is so high these days, you know, sitting at 830,000 that I just think there's going to be some downward pressure upwards of 10 to 15% over maybe the next 12 months or so, especially with population decreasing.

[21:26] like that's telling me that people are taking their money and for 800 900,000 would rather be somewhere else right and so if you were looking today you know it's 725,000 this is a 1250 ft home50 ft in the 700s and yeah they updated it pictures aren't very nice but I mean low ceilings kind of a funky layout right looks like a trile split level sort of deal small rooms and this is what the 700's get you there. And people would just rather go to Erie, honestly, uh, which is one of the more exploding towns around the suburbs, a little bit north, and get a whole lot of home for 700s. Or they'd rather go east, you know, Firestone, Dakota, uh, Frederick, they're blowing up as well, and 700s gets you a lot. Here it gets you 1,256 square ft. And then here, for around a million bucks, you get 2,800 ft². This was built in the '9s. Now, this is going to be a real home, you know, and it's going to be nice feeling, but again, it's going to be kind of your '9s McMansion. And that kitchen, man, for this size home, look at that thing is small. So, you're you're struggling here in Lewisville. You really got to want to be in Lewisville to want to be able to pay Lewisville prices. And so, because of that, I think we're going to continue to see this downward pressure. and that's going to potentially create some opportunity, but I still think we're a year or two off from real opportunity happening in Lewisville, unless something, you know, majorly changes throughout uh the country and our economy and interest rates and stuff like that. Now, if you're doing a bunch of research, you know, a common question that comes up a lot for me is where the safest place to be around the Denver metro area, which is why I put together this video on the top 10 safest suburbs to be in around the Denver metro

Market Outlook & Closing