Denver's Affordable Homes Are the Ones Sitting

Look at Denver as one market and it reads as steady. Homes are selling close to their asking prices and at a reasonable pace. Separate the houses from the condos and townhomes, though, and that single picture splits into two markets pulling in opposite directions.

The Split

Detached houses inside the city are tight. Over the past thirty days, 726 of them closed against 1,670 sitting on the market. At that pace, Denver holds about 2.3 months of detached supply, meaning it would take roughly that long to sell every active listing if no new homes came up. The typical detached property went under contract in 11 days, near a median price of $697,500.

Condos and townhomes run the other way. Over the same thirty days, 303 closed against 2,003 active listings, which works out to about 6.6 months of supply. The typical attached sale ran $400,000 and took 28 days to find a buyer. These figures cover listings inside the city of Denver, where condos and townhomes make up a larger share of the market than they do in the suburbs.

Reading the Numbers

Agents and analysts use a rough rule for months of supply - under about five months favors sellers, while over five months favors buyers. By that measure, in the same city and the same month, detached houses are a seller's market and condos and townhomes are a buyer's market. The affordable half of Denver is the half where buyers hold the leverage.

Why the Affordable Half Is Slower

The usual explanation for slow sales is that high prices and mortgage rates have pushed buyers out. That does not fit what the data shows here, because the segment with the most supply and the slowest sales is also the cheapest. The friction comes from the cost to own rather than the price to buy.

Condos and townhomes carry monthly homeowners association dues that most detached houses do not, and those dues have climbed steadily. The national median condo fee reached about $420 a month in 2025, up roughly 29 percent from 2019, according to Realtor.com data. More than eight in ten condo and townhome listings now carry dues, compared with about a third of single-family homes. In Colorado the main pressure is insurance. Hail and wildfire losses have pushed carriers to raise master-policy premiums or leave the state, and associations pass those costs through as higher dues and special assessments. A buyer can qualify for the purchase price and still be stopped by the monthly carry.

Mortgage Rates

Mortgage rates remain in the higher part of their recent range. Mortgage News Daily put its daily average at 6.58 percent on June 18, holding near the level it moved to around the Federal Reserve meeting earlier in the week, with inflation and the conflict in the Middle East adding pressure. For an attached buyer running the numbers, the rate matters less than the full monthly figure, which now includes dues and insurance alongside principal and interest.

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Sources: Residential active listings and closings, city of Denver, REcolorado MLS (thirty days ending June 18, 2026). Mortgage rate: Mortgage News Daily. HOA and condo fee data: Realtor.com Homeowners Association Report.