Denver homes are the fastest selling in the country with only an average of 20 days on the market on average. San Francisco came in second with an average of 23 days on the market, while the national average was 57 days on the market. San Francisco and Denver also led the nation in tight housing inventory, with San Francisco having only 1.2 month supply of homes for sale and Denver having a 1.4 month supply. The national average was 3.9 months. The Denver median home sale prices also jumped 14% in the past year which was the biggest sale price jump in the nation compared to the nationally median sale price increase of 7.5%.

Denver’s recovery since the Great Recession has also been substantial according to WalletHub which compares 150 of the largest U.S. cities across 17 metrics in two categories, employment and earning opportunities and economic environment.

According to the report, Denver is:

  • 12th for home price appreciation
  • 11th for poverty rate
  • 36th for ratio of part-time to full-time jobs
  • 40th for unemployment rate
  • 2nd for inflow of college-educated workers

Denver home prices vs wages over the past 10 years have also shown a disparity between wage growth and housing price increases. From July 2005 to July 2015, the average price of a home in metro Denver, including both detached single-family houses and attached condominiums and townhomes, has increased by 91% from $190,000 to $363,561. Meanwhile, the average annual wage in the metro Denver has only increased 27% from 2004 to 2014, from $41,700 to $53,060.

In addition, Denver’s population grew by 8.2% from 2003 to 2013 according to Denver Office of Economic Development and is projected to grow another 28% over the next 15 years. The OED is also projecting that the population of the metro area will grow by nearly 50% by 2030 to 3.9 million people.