Living in Colorado

Homes in South Denver, North Aurora and Lowry are among the top in Colorado for home buyers

Metro Denver’s housing market has run hot for about six years, and while signs nationally point to the residential real estate market running out of fuel, some areas in metro Denver remain on fire, with rates of annual home price appreciation approaching 40 percent this year.

The Denver Post asked the Denver Metro Association of Realtors, Zillow, Trulia, Redfin and a Boulder firm, Zavvie, to rank the most robust ZIP codes and neighborhoods for home price and sales gains this year. The areas that showed up the most often on the various rankings were included on the list below of the hottest neighborhoods.

Price gains were a big determinant but so too were the volume of sales and the number of days on the market. Higher mortgage rates, the limited inventory of homes for sale and higher prices are all weighing on home sales this year. But these eight ZIP codes remain popular with buyers.

80237 — Hampden South, Southmoor Park

• Median price: $428,500
• Change in median price: 39.9%
• Change in sold listings: -14.5%
• Average days on market: 32

in short suburbia in the city, are what the homes in southeast Denver’s Hampden South and Southmoor Park neighborhoods have to offer. And while that might not appeal to young buyers wanting a hip address, attitudes can change as kids start showing up.

“Once they have that second child, the Washington Park bungalow doesn’t work as much anymore,” said Adam Haman, a real estate investor and broker associate with HomeSmart Cherry Creek.

Younger adults who made well-timed purchases in older neighborhoods like Platte Park are among those searching the area for larger four- and five-bedroom homes. Investors are active too, buying homes built in the 1960s and 1970s from the original owners or their heirs and rehabilitating them.

80230 — Lowry

• Median price: $729,402
• Change in median price: 39.7%
• Change in sold listings: 47.4%
• Average days on market: 45

Through April, the annual price gains are the the highest of any Zip code in the metro area at just shy of 40 percent. Despite that, the homes are still priced below the median for the overall market.Properties in this former military base on Denver’s east side carry the heftiest price tags of any hot neighborhood at $729,402. Despite that, the number of sales isn’t slowing, as is the case in most areas, but accelerating — by nearly half. That’s due to a surge in new high-end homes hitting the market.

Lowry is developing its last parcel on the former site of the Air Force Accounting Building under the name Boulevard One. Condos in the mixed product community start in the $500,000 to $600,000 range, townhomes go in the $700,000 range and single-family homes command $1.2 million to $1.4 million, said Derek Camunez, owner of Re/Max Avenues in Denver.

Lowry residents have shown a tendency to stay put or relocate within the neighborhood, which gives new home sales a disproportionate impact, and contributed to a whopping 39.7 percent gain in the median price and a 47.4 percent jump in sales versus last year.

“These (new) properties are pulling up Lowry in general,” said Camunez, a long-time Lowry resident.