As Denver real estate agents begin working a new year’s market, data from late 2025 show a continued pattern of slightly declining prices, slightly increased inventory, and a little more time required for home listings to sell.

But agents are split about the outlook now, and some are actually upbeat about flipping the calendar from 2025, happy to say goodbye to a decidedly lackluster year.

“The Denver Metro real estate market in 2025 continued the stabilization pattern observed since 2023,” the Denver Metro Association of Realtors reported Tuesday in its monthly Market Trends report.

“I’m excited about 2026,” Kentwood agent Jennifer Markus told The Denver Gazette.

Her book of business is centered in the pricier end of the market in south-suburban Greenwood Village and Cherry Hills; and the new report shows that higher end being a bright spot, with some notable sales.

“I think 2026 could be huge,” Markus said. “There’s a pent-up demand among buyers, and I see everyone waiting for the next listing to come on the market.”

While the new DMAR numbers show a 28% drop in active listings market-wide last month, compared with November, in Markus’s neighborhoods the drop was even more evident.

“I’m showing only 12 houses on the market in Greenwood Village,” she said, noting that those few available listings ranged in price from $775,000 to $8 million. In Cherry Hills Village, the current supply shows only nine listings, she noted.

“I have a buyer tomorrow who can go up to $4 million, but I have only one home to show. And for anything in the middle there is nothing,” Markus said.

DMAR’s report noted that much of the better news at year-end was at the higher end, noting that the Denver area saw the highest single-family home sale at $17 million in November, and the top attached home sale at $10.13 million in October.

“The average sales price for homes sold above $1 million climbed to $1.64 million, the highest average recorded in at least the past five years,” the report noted.

Meanwhile, DMAR Market Trends Committee Chair Amanda Snitker said that the market psychology that slowed sales last year has been a product of economic factors, including interest rates, that have outweighed traditional supply-and-demand fundamentals.

“In many ways, real estate became collateral damage from wider economic forces beyond the industry’s control,” Snitker said in a letter accompanying the report.

“The Federal Reserve rate cuts, influenced by persistent inflation concerns and tariff uncertainties, kept mortgage rates anchored in the six to seven percent range,” she said. “Bond market volatility increased borrowing costs, and consumer confidence declined amid rising economic uncertainty.”

Here in the 11-county metro area, the median price of a single-family home last month was $625,000, down 1.57% from November’s price of $635,000 and exactly the same as it stood at the end of 2024. The median price of a townhouse or condo stood at $385,000, up a tad from November and down just slightly from the December 2024 price of $390,000.

Just 7,607 homes were listed for sale market-wide at month’s end, down from 10,506 listings in November. Agents see that drop as a factor caused by sellers who pulled listings off the market for the holidays, and who may relist them as spring approaches.

In the middle of the market, $500,000 to $750,000, total inventory was down a notable 36% over the month, and off almost 16% over a year ago. A single-family home in that range was competing against 40% fewer homes than the month before, and 20% fewer than a year back, the report said.

Chris Flanders, a senior mortgage banker with Commerce Bank who consults with the Trends committee, said the new year might deliver some better news on mortgage rates, as the Federal Reserve confronts a slowdown in third-quarter job growth.

“We expect the lingering effects of trade tensions, ongoing federal budget battles and the recalibration of monetary policy to continue to ripple through fixed-income markets,” Flanders said in the report. Actions of lawmakers and policymakers notwithstanding, the U.S. economy continues to move forward impressively.”

Flanders noted that the consumers and businesses seem to be navigating the tariff storm and are getting some added support from growth in the AI industry, as well as from the continued performance of the stock market.

“Employment appears strong enough to keep the U.S. out of recession,” Flanders said. Real economic growth was likely around 1.5% to 2% this past year.

“We expect similar economic momentum as we enter 2026 if the Fed continues to pivot toward lower rates, households remain nearly fully employed and confident enough to continue to spend.”

DMAR’s analysts noted that relatively modest drops in price for homes have to be seen against the huge runup in value that homeowners earned over the course of the pandemic.

“This stability in median home values reflects a combination of the economic impacts … and the rebalance following the rapid 38.5% increase in home values from March 2020 to April 2022,” the report noted.

Snitker noted that homebuyers hoping to get into the market would need to focus on finding advantages to increase their buying power while rates remain relatively high.

“They should explore rate buydown options, consider a wider range of neighborhoods and property types and work with lenders who can structure loans that maximize purchasing power.

“Sellers,” Snitker added, “must focus on competitive pricing from day one.”