80121 ZIPs to No. 1 in market

Median home price soars 26% for biggest metro rise

By John Rebchook, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)

Wednesday, May 7, 2008

Ken Papaleo / The Rocky

This house in the 5900 block of South Pearl Street in Centennial is in the area that showed the greatest appreciation in home value in the Denver region in the first quarter.

Ken Papaleo / The Rocky

This home is in the 4700 block of Grant Street in Globeville, where housing prices dropped 34.4 percent during the first three months of the year.

Home prices in the Denver area showed the greatest appreciation during the first quarter in the 80121 ZIP code, which includes parts of Cherry Hills Village, Greenwood Village and Centennial.

The median price of a home in 80121 jumped 26.3 percent to $310,000 from $245,500 a year earlier, according to data compiled at the request of the Rocky Mountain News by La Jolla, Calif.-based DataQuick, which tracks home prices by ZIP code.

By contrast, the 80216 ZIP code, which includes areas such as Globeville that have been plagued by foreclosures, saw a 34.4 percent drop in the first quarter to $62,300 from $95,000 a year ago.

Pat Long of Keller Williams Action Realty wasn't surprised that 80121 was No. 1.

"It has always been a hot area," Long said. "It is a very family-oriented, well-developed area. People love it."

It also has a wide variety of home prices.

At least 143 unsold single-family homes are in that ZIP code, ranging in price from $6.2 million to around $150,000.

For the median price of $310,000, you can buy a four-bedroom, four-bath house with 3,057 square feet on a quarter-acre lot.

Long said she thinks most of the appreciation is taking place in houses priced from the $200,000s to the $300,000s.

"I think the ultra-expensive houses have plateaued," she said. "And like anywhere else, you can find pockets where there are foreclosures."

There are more than pockets of foreclosed or distressed homes in 80216.

"It's not the best area in Denver," said Tere Cardenas of RE/MAX Central Alliance. "It's a hard area to live in, but if you like it, go ahead. Prices have dropped."

On the other hand, prices have dropped so much that they are probably either at or near the bottom, she said. About 80 single- family homes are for sale in the area, priced from about $25,000 to almost $400,000.

"I truly believe the area is going to go up," Cardenas said. "Anything you buy now will probably be worth more in a couple of years."

She is doing a short sale for one home at $120,000, in which the bank is owed about $156,000, she said. With a short sale, the lender agrees to take less than what is owed.

Almost all of the top 10 and bottom 10 ZIP codes showed a drop in the number of sales in the first quarter.

Sales are off for a variety of reasons in the Denver area and across the country, said Andrew LePage of DataQuick.

"Those reasons include an unprecedented credit crunch that has hit folks at the top and bottom of many markets," LePage said.

He pointed to the subprime meltdown and pricier, harder-to- get jumbo loans, and overall tighter lending requirements that demand higher credit scores, assets and down payments.

In addition, there is a "steady barrage of negative housing market news that leads many potential buyers to conclude it's time to wait rather than buy," LePage said. "On top of that comes higher gas/food costs and lots of talk of a possible recession (here or around the corner)."

The No. 2 market for appreciation was 80212 in northwest Denver, which showed an 18.5 percent rise. It includes neighborhoods such as Sloan's Lake, West Highland and Berkeley.

THE REST OF THE TOP FIVE

2. Denver 80212 UP 18.5%

3. Golden 80403 UP 15.4%

4. Denver 80215 UP 14.6%

5. Englewood 80111 UP 13.2%

THE REST OF THE BOTTOM 5

5. Aurora 80011 DOWN 22.5%

4. Denver 80239 DOWN 23.3%

3. Denver 80219 DOWN 25%

2. Aurora 80010 DOWN 26.5%

rebchookj@RockyMountainNews.com or 303-954-5207