Will Denver Become Unaffordable (Colorado Springs, Aurora: real estate, apartment, rent)

[1fastlx]

With rent prices rising every few months I am worried that soon Denver area will become unaffordable for many. Does anyone think there will be any relief in sight once the supply goes up? I already can barely afford a studio apartment (when there available) on my salary. They have been talking about pushing out more affordable housing, but seems like nothing has happened. As much as I love Colorado I do not want to be stuck in a 450 sq ft apartment the rest of my life.

[Littlekw]

Denver is already unaffordable to a lot of people, myself included. I love the line of work I'm in and have accepted that I cannot touch Denver and continue to work in my field. I've looked into it, just to try Denver out since I have lived all over Colorado but never the Denver metro area.

I could make a couple hundred dollars more a month if I were to move to Denver. But I have a nice little place I rent in Colorado Springs on my own that has two bedrooms, two bathrooms and plenty of room. My rent is $675 a month. I couldn't even find a decent studio in Denver for that. The minor pay raise I would get by working in Denver would be devoured by rent and I would live in poverty. No thanks.

As for buying a place, same situation. I'm in the process of selling my house in Teller County to buy a place in Colorado Springs. I have a good chunk of equity to put down on a future house and have found a few nice little historic homes on the west side of the Springs. All of them are under $150K. I couldn't even find a one bedroom condo in the Denver area for that.

Denver is great but the high housing costs will keep me out for the foreseeable future.

[davebarnes]

cf. San Francisco
cf. NYC

Who knows?
[coastal] California has been unaffordable for 60 years.

[brown_dog_us]

Originally Posted by 1fastlx

With rent prices rising every few months I am worried that soon Denver area will become unaffordable for many. Does anyone think there will be any relief in sight once the supply goes up? I already can barely afford a studio apartment (when there available) on my salary. They have been talking about pushing out more affordable housing, but seems like nothing has happened. As much as I love Colorado I do not want to be stuck in a 450 sq ft apartment the rest of my life.

The affordable housing programs won't help very many people, but you should be working every angle to get a unit. If that doesn't work, then you need to look at ways to increase your income through more training or a different career.

This place is only going to get more expensive.

[JohnnyDenver]

Yes . . . . for many as mentioned above. However, that will stop people from moving here.

[mic111]

Affordable/Unaffordable...hmm...hmmm....hmmm. Pick the one that applies to you.

It is unaffordable for the poor.
It is unaffordable for people without education and a career.
It is affordable for those moving from the coasts or higher cost of living areas.
It is affordable for retirees who saved their money and have a retirement plan who want a great clean city with tons to do and great access to nature.
It is unaffordable for those who need to work two or more jobs to feed the high housing costs.
It is affordable to those who bought their homes before the current boom.
It is affordable for those with good paying jobs.
It is unaffordable for those with low paying jobs.

[Timmyy]

Originally Posted by mic111

Affordable/Unaffordable...hmm...hmmm....hmmm. Pick the one that applies to you.

It is unaffordable for the poor.
It is unaffordable for people without education and a career.
It is affordable for those moving from the coasts or higher cost of living areas.
It is affordable for retirees who saved their money and have a retirement plan who want a great clean city with tons to do and great access to nature.
It is unaffordable for those who need to work two or more jobs to feed the high housing costs.
It is affordable to those who bought their homes before the current boom.
It is affordable for those with good paying jobs.
It is unaffordable for those with low paying jobs.

I am good then.

[RareLocal5280]

Originally Posted by mic111

Affordable/Unaffordable...hmm...hmmm....hmmm. Pick the one that applies to you.

It is affordable to those who bought their homes before the current boom.
.

This one really sticks out to me. There are so many people on this forum who tell newly interested people to look elsewhere and talk about how they can't afford it. The interesting question is "if you were getting ready to move here, with your current job and current salary, could YOU afford the same lifestyle and housing you have now?"

So many on here act like they were some real estate genius, but the truth of the matter is that it was mostly timing and luck, and now they have large amounts of equity in their homes because . . . wait for it . . . all the new people moving to the state with more money!!! If our population stayed stagnant, prices would not have increased at the clip they have.

Most of us aren't real estate gurus, we just happen to have been lucky enough to have bought here before things started shooting upwards.

[mic111]

Originally Posted by RareLocal5280

... we just happen to have been lucky enough to have bought here before things started shooting upwards.

Lucky or unlucky? Who can say which each person is until they sell. The value of the house is meaningless until you extract it. Yellowstone erupts, covers us in ash. Then we are all pretty unlucky in real estate.

The next Google, Apple, Microsoft (GAM) is started in someone's garage in the metro area and the GAM company stays put then we are all very lucky in real estate.

Buying a home does one thing. It stabilizes your housing cost to a certain extent. If you bought your house and could afford it at the time you should generally continue to be able to afford it over time. Hopefully your pay is going up but your housing cost is staying stagnant.

The market could go up or down. Rents could go up or down but a home owner shouldn't care one way or the other if they bought something they could afford.

Edited to add:

Originally Posted by RareLocal5280

The interesting question is "if you were getting ready to move here, with your current job and current salary, could YOU afford the same lifestyle and housing you have now?"

This question really isn't relevant to the discussion on the board. Why? Because the economic situation available in years past was different than it is today. No one new has access to last years prices, or the prices 3, 5 and 10 yrs ago. They have to deal with today's prices. I think that today's prices are why you see so little inventory. People who already live here can't fathom paying $400K for a house that they remember being available for $150K. As a result there is little selling to move up. Newcomers look at that same $400K house and say, it is cheaper than the $425K one down the street so I better snatch it up. Also psychologically it is hard to sell the house you bought for $150K to buy something just slightly better for $500K, even if you can sell yours for $400K.

[JrzDefector]

Originally Posted by mic111

Lucky or unlucky? Who can say which each person is until they sell. The value of the house is meaningless until you extract it. Yellowstone erupts, covers us in ash. Then we are all pretty unlucky in real estate.

The next Google, Apple, Microsoft (GAM) is started in someone's garage in the metro area and the GAM company stays put then we are all very lucky in real estate.

Buying a home does one thing. It stabilizes your housing cost to a certain extent. If you bought your house and could afford it at the time you should generally continue to be able to afford it over time. Hopefully your pay is going up but your housing cost is staying stagnant.

The market could go up or down. Rents could go up or down but a home owner shouldn't care one way or the other if they bought something they could afford.

Edited to add:

This question really isn't relevant to the discussion on the board. Why? Because the economic situation available in years past was different than it is today. No one new has access to last years prices, or the prices 3, 5 and 10 yrs ago. They have to deal with today's prices. I think that today's prices are why you see so little inventory. People who already live here can't fathom paying $400K for a house that they remember being available for $150K. As a result there is little selling to move up. Newcomers look at that same $400K house and say, it is cheaper than the $425K one down the street so I better snatch it up. Also psychologically it is hard to sell the house you bought for $150K to buy something just slightly better for $500K, even if you can sell yours for $400K.

True. What I paid for my house was a steal back in Jersey. It was a very good price for the Denver area, for sure, but not exactly breathtaking.

I bought it a little over 2 years ago, and I feel pretty good about that decision. I saw which way the rents were going, and I realized if l wanted to stick around here and maintain my current standard of living, I needed to buy a place that would have a mortgage on par with my rent back then.

I think Denver will eventually become relatively unaffordable - that's going to push the lower-income people into Aurora. Or the city govt could layer on some rent controls or designate some low-income housing. Not sure what the current policy is on that.