John Rebchook is a former Rocky Mountain News reporter with more than 30 years of experience in writing and communications... Hilltop was the place to sell a home in the second quarter.
The 80246 ZIP Code in Denver saw a whopping 47.2 percent increase in the median sold price, according to a recent report by San Diego-based DataQuick. DataQuick is a real estate information service company that tracks and analyzes home sales, based on public records, in California and several other states. It breaks down metro areas by ZIP Codes.
The trouble with ZIP Codes, of course, is that they often contain both high-end and low-end homes. For example, Cherry Hills Village and Englewood share a ZIP Code.
And 80246 includes Hilltop, one of Denver’s most prominent neighborhoods, as well as parts bordering Glendale that are not high-end at all.
Still, Steve Blank, a broker with Fuller Sotheby’s Real Estate, told me that it was the Hilltop portion of the ZIP that drove up the prices in the second quarter.
“There were a couple of very large, custom specs that finally sold – in the $2.5 million to $3 million range,” said Blank, who can often be found at the real estate display in the Cherry Creek shopping center that he created.
But Blank would not say those sales skewed the numbers.
“We’re not saying that the number of low-end homes on the market are skewing the numbers lower, so we should not say some expensive sales are skewing it upwards,” Blank said. “That said, that is the market, so we should clarify the reason why for people.”
[...] the previous blog, I wrote that the 80246 ZIP Code, which includes Hilltop, showed a 47.2 percent appreciation during [...]