Rocky Mountain High (and low)
It's anyone's bet how the national recovery will unfold, but firming fundamentals in the Mile High City last year set the stage for fairly healthy conditions throughout much of Denver in 2010.
The Emerging Trends in Real Estate 2010 by PricewaterhouseCoopers lists Colorado's capital as one of the top 10 national cities to watch -- the third year in a row the report has highlighted Denver among top-tier cities, pointing to the fact that the city avoided the financial industry implosions of other metros and is a national hub for alternative energy, wind farm manufacturing, and oil and natural gas companies.
Like most metros around the country, the Rocky Mountain State's most populous city experienced record low sales volume last year. The total of 94 apartment properties that traded hands in the Denver area last year -- only eight with more than 200 units -- represents the lowest number of annual apartment sales in the Metro in 16 years.
"Due to the increasing cap rates and a soft rental market, most owners chose not to sell their apartment properties during 2009," said Jeff Hawks, principal at Apartment Realty Advisors in Denver, who, along with his partner Doug Andrews, received 119 offers from 72 different buyers last year, but closed only two transactions.
"In the last 24 months, we had $1 billion in listings in Colorado that did not sell because the seller chose not to sell. We had at least 10 offers per property and sometimes over 20
