DMAR Real Estate Market Trends Report | August 2026

In August, closed sales dropped sharply and inventory levels and prices remained flat. Three signals pointed in three different directions at once, revealing a market that asks us to look past the aggregate and consider what conditions actually mean for the person standing in front of us, because for the past several months, no two clients have been navigating quite the same version of this market.

“The general economic uncertainty continues to weigh heavily on real estate: inflation that won't fully settle, tariff policy that shifts by the week, a discerning Federal Reserve and mortgage rates that never quite commit to a direction,” said Amanda Snitker, Chair of the DMAR Market Trends Committee and Metro Denver Realtor®. “It's the kind of environment that feels precarious day-to-day. Uncertainty has dominated the conversation, but it hasn't translated into real instability in this market. If anything, the defining feature of the past three years has been their sameness.”

Looking at the market as a whole, little has changed. Active listings ended August at 13,080, essentially flat, down 0.27 percent month-over-month and up 0.16 percent year-over-year, suggesting the steady inventory growth we've tracked throughout the year may be leveling off. Closed sales fell 18.99 percent from July and 17.35 percent from last August, and sales volume dropped 19.45 percent month-over-month. Yet the median close price of $594,495 is essentially unchanged from a year ago and down 1.74 percent from July. Homes are also taking longer to sell: median days in MLS rose to 27, up from 21 in July, though still faster than last August's 30. Together, these aren't the numbers of a market in decline. Together, these aren't the numbers of a market in decline. Instead, the August data reflects a market with fewer transactions, while the homes that do sell face slightly less pricing pressure.

Looking closer at the detached and attached markets separately, the two continue to move in very different ways. Detached inventory declined 4.21 percent year-over-year while attached inventory grew 9.94 percent, and attached homes are sitting a median of 45 days on market against 24 for detached. Detached median prices held essentially flat year-over-year; attached prices fell 4.87 percent. Headlines often try to capture two different markets – a client selling a condo faces conditions a single-family seller does not.

Year-to-date closings are down 3.49 percent from 2025, and the year-to-date median price of $599,990 is up a mere 0.17 percent. That stability, though, is really an average of many individual outcomes. Some sellers are negotiating hard, others are fielding multiple offers; some buyers are waiting months, while others are closing in weeks.

Added Snitker, “It’s important to resist compressing the market into a single label. Buyers are focusing on what makes sense right now, which depends on someone's timeline, financing and goals. For some, renting remains the more practical and accessible choice, and that's a legitimate outcome. Sellers are navigating their own circumstances, too, ones that a median price or a days-on-market figure can't fully capture.”

DMAR’s monthly report also includes statistics and analyses in its supplemental markets that include properties sold for $1 million or greater, properties sold between $750,000 and $999,999 and properties sold between $500,000 and $749,999.

The $1 million+ market showed that the divide between detached and attached luxury properties was especially clear in August. Of the 668 new listings above $1 million, 628 were single-family detached homes. Closings followed the same pattern, with detached properties accounting for an impressive 95.6 percent of all $1 million+ sales.

While detached and attached properties combined average days in MLS increased 28.95 percent from July, high-end homes are still selling. The difference is that property type, condition, positioning, and price matter more than ever. And this isn’t just showing up in individual sales. Attached luxury properties averaged 99 days in MLS this August, up 98 percent from just 50 days in August 2025. Detached luxury homes moved in the opposite direction, averaging 47 days compared with 51 last August, a 7.84 percent decrease.

“I saw this distinction firsthand recently while working with buyers from Texas searching for a second home in a downtown Denver high-rise,” said Christina Ray, DMAR Market Trends Committee member and Metro Denver Realtor®. “With plenty of condos to choose from, one thing became very clear: they weren’t just buying a unit, they were buying the building. Even a spectacular residence quickly moved down the list if the building showed signs of deferred maintenance, dated common areas, or amenities that couldn’t compete with newer options. In the attached luxury market, the condition and experience of the entire building can be just as important as what’s behind the front door.”

Sales volume also reinforces the broader story in this segment. Detached luxury sales volume has generally trended upward year-over-year since 2023, while attached luxury volume has been far more inconsistent, highlighting just how differently these two segments are behaving.

Overall, luxury buyers are still buying, and significant money is still moving, but they’re discerning, and every property has its own set of circumstances.

Highlights from August’s closed transactions include the sale of the highest-priced detached home, which was 4030 E. Forbes Court in Littleton and sold for $7,388,943 after just one day in MLS. The highest attached sale was located at 1133 14th Street #4050 at the Four Seasons Residences in Denver and sold for $3.8 million in cash.

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