Denver Market Update: May 2026

Denver metro prices are down 2% YoY — single-family buyers have real room to negotiate.

Market Trends

Denver metro asking prices are down 2% year-over-year, and single-family homes are sitting on the market longer than they were a year ago — this is a buyer's market in the making, not a balanced one.

The metro-wide median list price fell 2.08% year-over-year as of April 2026. Single-family homes in the Denver metro are currently listed at a median of $825,000. Homes are taking longer to sell: the median time on market for single-family homes is 50 days, up 8.3% from a year ago. Sellers are also accepting less than list — the metro-wide sale-to-list ratio sits at 0.995, meaning buyers are on average closing below asking price. Meanwhile, metro inventory is essentially flat year-over-year (+0.52%), so supply hasn't expanded meaningfully — but closed sales volume is up 7.16% year-over-year, which tells you demand is still there. Buyers are transacting; they're just paying less to do it.

• Metro median list price: $825,000 — down 2.08% year-over-year
• Median time on market: 50 days — up 8.3% year-over-year; homes are sitting longer
• Sale-to-list ratio: 0.995 — buyers are negotiating below list price on average
• Metro inventory: up 0.52% year-over-year — supply is stable, not surging
• Closed sales: up 7.16% year-over-year — demand is absorbing inventory, just at lower prices

If you're leaving a sub-$500,000 starter and shopping in the $700,000–$1,000,000 range, the 50-day median is your leverage. Use it: homes priced off current comps are sitting. Homes priced to the market are moving.

Interest Rates and Mortgage Impact

The year-over-year rate story is the one that matters for your budget: the 30-year fixed is down 0.45 percentage points from a year ago, and that translates directly to $212 less per month on a $750,000 purchase with 5% down.

Rates moved from 6.81% on May 15, 2025 to 6.36% as of May 14, 2026. At $712,500 financed (5% down on $750,000), that year-over-year improvement drops your monthly principal-and-interest from $4,650 to $4,438 — a $212/month reduction. The near-term picture is less favorable: rates edged up 6 basis points from 6.30% on April 16 to 6.36% on May 14, adding $28/month to that same payment — and $10,080 in additional interest over the life of the loan if held to term.

The practical read: you're in a better position than buyers were a year ago, but rates have drifted up from February's lows. Budget around $4,438/month at current rates. If you're waiting for rates to fall further before making a move, the 50-day median time on market gives you room — but well-priced homes in the $700K–$1M range aren't waiting indefinitely.

Homebuyer Tip

Verify school-district boundaries before you make an offer — not after.

Move-up buyers shopping in the $700,000–$1,000,000 range often assume a home's listed school feeds into the district they researched. That assumption costs people.

1. Pull the official boundary map from Denver Public Schools' SchoolChoice tool or Douglas County's enrollment portal — not a third-party site, which can lag by a year or more.

2. Enter the specific property address, not just the zip code or neighborhood name; boundaries can split mid-block.

3. Confirm the boundary applies to the current school year, not a prior one — DPS and Douglas County both update boundaries annually.

A boundary check takes 10 minutes and can save you from buying into the wrong district — or give you the confidence to move fast on the right home.

If you're tracking the Denver single-family market through summer, I publish this Market Update every month. Subscribe at [link] and you'll get next month's edition the day it's out.

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Paul McCoy, Realtor

Fathom Realty

License #: FA40000000

Phone: +1-319-325-0668

Email: pmccoy626@gmail.com

752 S Holly St., Denver, CO 80246

Paul McCoy is a licensed real estate professional in Colorado.

Equal Housing Opportunity.