DMAR Real Estate Market Trends Report | Jan. '26
The Denver Metro housing market is entering 2026 after nearly three years of flat performance that has left buyers and sellers waiting for clearer direction. Following the post-pandemic reset in 2023, market activity and pricing have remained largely sideways, fueling fatigue across the transaction pipeline.
December marked a seasonal reset. Many sellers pulled listings and buyers paused to reassess, contributing to a notably slow start to the year. Only 1,919 homes sold in January, one of the lowest monthly totals in data going back to 2008. Historically, the only other months with fewer than 2,000 sales were January 2010 and January 2011, during the post-financial-crisis period.
Still, early 2026 showed signs of renewed momentum. New listings rose 152.55 percent month-over-month in January, driven in part by homes withdrawn in November and December that returned to the market after the start of the year. Buyer activity also improved: pending sales climbed 48.19 percent for detached homes and 43.79 percent for attached homes compared to December.
Pricing remained seasonally soft. The median sale price for detached homes dipped 1.60 percent month-over-month and 3.61 percent year-over-year, while attached homes increased 1.30 percent month-over-month but fell 2.01 percent year-over-year. The average close-price-to-list-price ratio was 97.94 percent, slightly below December at 98.23 percent and January 2025 at 98.50 percent, reflecting increased price negotiation among sellers who had been on the market longer than expected.
Inventory continues to expand buyer choice. At the end of January, 8,228 active listings were on the market, up 8.16 percent from December and up 7.02 percent year-over-year, an atypical increase for this time of year, when active listings historically decline from December to January.
“The Denver Metro typically has very predictable seasonality,” said Amanda Snitker, Chair of the DMAR Market Trends Committee and Metro Denver Realtor®. “Even though the last three years have been essentially flat in both home sales and the median sale price, seasonality is still apparent.”
Added Snitker, “With an unseasonably warm winter and more inventory in play, buyers may see more opportunity earlier than usual, but affordability remains a hurdle. Rather than waiting for dramatic shifts, the best advantage in 2026 will come from acting when personal timing and financial readiness align.”
Our 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 didn’t wait for its usual seasonal kickoff this year. Historically, the $1 million+ segment has tended to pick up after mid-February, but January activity arrived early, likely driven by unseasonably warm, dry weather and an eager return to the market after the holiday slowdown.
Sellers moved first. New $1 million+ listings in January nearly tripled December totals, led by detached inventory. A total of 594 detached homes hit the market, a 256 percent month-over-month increase and 13 percent higher than this time last year. The attached segment also expanded, with 41 new attached listings, up 215 percent month-over-month.
Buyer activity, however, was split sharply by property type. Pending sales for $1 million+ detached homes rose 57.77 percent from December, with 325 homes going under contract. In contrast, the attached market lagged: only 12 attached homes went under contract in January, a 25 percent decrease from December and nearly 30 percent lower than this time last year.
Pricing and market time underscored the divide. The segment’s average price per square foot was $561 in January, down 32.8 percent from December. Attached luxury homes continue to feel the greatest pressure: compared to the market peak in 2022, attached prices in this segment are down 18.58 percent. Median days on market for $1 million+ attached homes climbed to 100 days in January, a sharp year-over-year increase.
Inventory levels reinforced that imbalance. Attached homes priced $1 million to $1.99 million averaged 7.695 months of inventory, while the $2 million+ attached segment reached 26 months of inventory, signaling a challenging environment for condo and townhome sellers. Detached homes priced $1 million to $1.49 million posted 3.99 months of inventory, reflecting more balanced conditions, while the higher end of detached homes remained in buyer’s market territory at 7.8 months of inventory, an improvement from last year, but still elevated.
“The warm, dry days and the active early real estate market may have felt unusual for our January – are they both becoming the norm?” said Colleen Covell, DMAR Market Trends Committee member and Metro Denver Realtor®. “Detached luxury is showing real early-year energy, but the attached segment is clearly more price-sensitive right now. For condo and townhome sellers especially, strategic pricing and standout presentation will matter more than ever in a market with this much inventory.”
Highlights from January’s closed transactions include the sale of the highest-priced attached home, 1500 Wynkoop Street, Unit PH-1, in Denver, which closed for $8,250,000 in cash after 106 days on the MLS, and the highest-priced detached home, which was an off-MLS, all-cash transaction of a single-family home for $9,300,000 at 20 Viking Drive in Englewood.
