Backflip Blueprint
For ten years, Denver, CO real estate has been the gift that keeps on giving. It’s easy to conclude the Mile High City must have reached its peak on home prices by now. But don’t count on it. While Denver home prices may have flattened this year (and even dropped a bit last quarter), the correction that’s been predicted ever since 2017 has never materialized. After all, the city continues to grow and attract new residents.
Certainly, Backflip’s professional real estate investors continue to find opportunities here. Of course, some neighborhoods and home types do move more sharply than others. Backflip members’ property appreciation consistently outstrips Denver as a whole.
If you’re interested in where the local pros look, here are Denver’s most popular zip codes for real estate investing in 2024, based on the number of profit analyses run on the Backflip app.
80219, Westwood
80224, Virginia Village
80220, East Colfax
80204, University of Denver
80223, Thornton
80216, Commerce City
Note: Notably missing from the list are some of the towns often cited as good investments—Arvada, Lakewood, Northglenn. Whether a factor of price, availability, profit potential, or another reason, Backflip’s pro flippers didn’t bite.
While Westwood house prices have come down a notch since last year, one way to gauge whether a neighborhood is good for investment is to look at the increase in high-income earners over time. The reported percentage of upper middle income earners in this traditionally lower-income ‘hood went from 4% in 2010 to 21.1% in 2022—a trend that continues. With home prices below the city average, no wonder this was the Backflip app’s most popular zip in Denver. But that comes with challenges: 80219 is a competitive market, so hunting opportunities off-market is the way to go.
80224 was an especially strong performer on Backflip given it comprises less than 9,000 housing units—perhaps because a significant portion of them are 1960s-era single family homes, in their prime renovation years. (Across Denver, single-family-home sales, a Backflip staple, have improved this year.) 80224 is not cheap, with home prices $50K+ above the city average. But the majority of residents are young couples and families with a median joint income of $128,162, while the rate of home ownership here is a low 58%—making it a great place to earn strong rents.
Properties in the west of Denver have always been more desirable. East Colfax is on the other side. Long considered dangerous and shady by locals, opinions are starting to change. Nowadays, East Colfax is a fast-rising central neighborhood that the City of Denver is pouring money into—which makes it a good bet for a buy-and-hold property. Being so close to the center, rental demand is high, while rundown properties ripe for renovation are numerous. If you can snap one up below $500K, you might well have a bargain.
The University of Denver’s students bring a cosmopolitan feel and a consistent demand for rentals to 80204. While prices are down since 2023, As the University continues to expand, it’s a good bet that long-term property values here will appreciate along with it. Further boosting demand is 80204’s proximity to downtown, making it consistently attractive to young, professional commuters with the number of upper middle income earners sky-rocketing over the last decade.
Thornton is the fastest growing suburb of Denver, and is bucking the broader real estate price trend, with home prices up 12.3% compared to last year, selling for a median price of $508K. The recent increase of people moving to Thornton (in part thanks to the N Line rail service) has sparked a ton of new development and addition of amenities. Older homes tend to be single family, a core purchase type for Backflip members, and among them there you can still find occasional bargains as low as $200K.
Commerce City has a lot going for it: commuter friendly, close to Denver International Airport, tons of amenities, new housing estates, including parks, a golf course, and one of the country’s largest soccer complexes. And as a result, it has a fast-growing population that almost tripled since 2000, and is still growing at a rate of 2.67% annually. With all that, home prices are down 9% since last year, and the median home price of $341K lags behind other areas of the city, making it look like a decent bargain.
While Denver’s real estate market has shown remarkable resilience, always approach investments with a discerning eye. A data-led scan of the landscape is a good place to begin the due diligence required to make informed decisions about any dynamic real estate investment market. We hope our data helped.
Get free price analysis on any address, and check out the stats for any zip code right in the Backflip app.