When NBC’s Today Show ran a segment last week projecting Denver as the market with prospects for making the nation’s first comeback from the housing slump, more than a few Realtors were already expecting the news.

Becky Kenny of RE/MAX Professionals shows a listing at 179 Satsuma Place in Plum Creek, Castle Rock, priced at $699,000, backing to the Pete Dye-designed golf course.

“We’ve been predicting for six months that we’d begin seeing appreciation in the lowest price ranges, and that the effect would begin creeping into the middle ranges,” says broker Jack O’Connor, a principal owner of the newly combined RE/MAX Professionals. He issues a monthly report to agents on market prospects. more »

By Mark Samuelson

The wide, well appointed, modestly priced townhomes opening at Chroma on Larimer are just a few blocks from Coors Field and its orbiting bars and clubs…and around the corner from the RiNo art gallery scene. The first buyers here (10 homes are left) have come from the art/design world…but when the Blake Street crowd gets a load of these big units, that could change.

Sales agent Chris Behrens shows off a 1,722-foot townhome opening on Larimer Street a few blocks from Coors Field. It has a private 2-car garage and rooftop deck.

The first two Chroma units–each with a street-level “live-work” space–sold to gallery owners (Plus Gallery, in the neighborhood since 2001, is relocating here)…and another went to a buyer who designs sportswear. But downtown Realtors, who had a sneak preview at a party last week, are telling the developer that the size and pricing of these homes…each “deeded” to own the ground below and a private 2-car garage…are re-shaping prices for the surrounding area. more »

Just like everywhere else in the country, Denver is a place where sales are well off the mark from a few years ago…but it’s is a very different market in terms of how the immediate future looks. The most obvious indicator of that is the surprising lack of supply of homes and condos in lower price ranges, available for sale this spring.

Jack O’Connor, principal in the new RE/MAX Professionals, shows a listing at 1298 Bellaire in Denver. The home has 3,400 square feet including a finished basement, at $585,000. Home inventories are at the lowest level in the 7-county area in six years.

“Denver is a declining inventory market, especially in the starter home ranges,” broker Jack O’Connor told me, as the new month’s Metrolist data came out this week. more »