Central Denver left behind

Last d ecade, a p ush toward urban living and being closer to work and in the center of the action benefitted downtown Denver and surrounding neighborhoods. But the pandemic c hanged a ll that when denser environments became associated with a higher risk of infection.

Smaller living quarters, more common in core urban areas, became p ainfully c ramped w hen work w ent remote. Less f oot traffic from office workers hurt downtown retailers and restaurants. Public health closures temporarily removed big draws like theater performances a nd c oncerts. Protests in the summer of 2020 caused widespread property damage downtown. And the delayed rebuild of the 16th Street Mall continues t o make a mess of things.

“In 2020 people started to work from h ome, a nd i nterest rates dropped and single- family homes became more affordable,” said Susan Chong, a principal with Iconique Real E state, a b rokerage firm specializing in urban properties. “Downtown has had one of the smaller gains in value.”

Colorado’s three weakestperforming ZIP codes for home price appreciation i n the past four years are in central Denver. They include 80202, with a gain of 10.3%; 80203 to the east with a 13.2% gain; and 80218 with a 15.8% gain.

Downtown is within 80202 and the neighborhoods covered by 80203 and 80218 include Speer, Uptown, Capitol Hill, Alamo Placita, C ity Park West, C heesman Park and Country Club.

The gains those areas saw might have been completely acceptable i n earlier decades. But they didn’t keep pace with inflation and fell way behind the 37.7% median gain statewide.

No D enver n eighborhoods managed to s urpass t he s tatewide m edian, a lthough 80249, an area of new construction near the airport, came closest with a 35.9% gain.

In a real estate upswing of a lifetime, central Denver homeowners l ost ground. The only other place in C olorado where that happened was in Rangely, a coal- dependent town that saw a gain of 16.6%.

But there are signs that downtown real estate could be bottoming out as more sellers throw in the towel on trying to make the return they had hoped to make. In s ome cases, t hey have c onsigned themselves to taking a significant loss. Buyers, many from out of s tate, are there to meet them i n their reluctant surrender to reality.

“It has been quiet, but it is definitely making a comeback in the first quarter of this year,” Chong said. “People still believe in downtown.”

Long- term, other trends could favor downtown areas. A survey