Denver's Housing Market Still Strong

Of the twenty cities in the Case-Schiller housing index for July, Denver was again down less from its peak housing prices than any other city in the index but Dallas.

Las Vegas, Phoenix, Miami, Detroit, Tampa, Los Angeles, San Francisco and San Diego all remain more than 30% below the peak. The California cities are all starting to recover from their low points, but the other cities hit new lows in July. Las Vegas real estate prices are down 57%. Needless to say, in these markets, even buyers with conventional mortgages who have been paying down their mortgages for years are now sometimes upside down.

This isn't to say that all is well in Denver, whose housing prices are still down 9.2% from the peak. They are still where they were in December 2008 and have nudged back down after some some statistically insignificant real estate appreciation from December 2008 to December 2009. But, compared to the rest of the nation, we come out smelling like roses.