December 2025 Your Castle Real Estate Newsletter

Tis the season… for slowing down—especially in Denver real estate.

As the holiday season settles into colder days and festive evenings, the Denver Metro housing market follows a familiar and time-tested pattern. Historically, the final quarter of the year brings a noticeable lull: fewer new listings, fewer buyers out touring homes, and many households pausing their real estate plans until after the new year. With gatherings, travel, weather, and long to-do lists competing for attention, it’s no surprise that activity cools long before the temperatures hit their coldest.

Inventory reflects the first signs of this holiday slowdown. Active listings dropped 15.92% month-over-month, reaching 10,506, though still 12.85% higher year-over-year. For additional perspective, the average number of active listings for November from 1985–2024 is 13,416, with a record high of 27,530 in 2006 and a record low of 2,248 in 2021. Today’s inventory sits comfortably between those extremes, underscoring a market that continues to normalize rather than constrict. Meanwhile, new listings fell 41.39% month-over-month—one of the sharpest seasonal declines of the year. This aligns with typical holiday seller behavior: many homeowners temporarily withdraw their listings in November and December, and those with greater timeline flexibility often pause plans altogether until after the new year, when buyers reemerge and activity naturally increases.

Homes also took longer to sell, with median days in the MLS rising to 36—up 9% from October and 26% year-over-year. Detached homes averaged 56 days and attached homes averaged 67. While longer timelines may feel unusual after the frenzied pace of recent years, they reflect a return to a healthier baseline. This was the year the market re-learned what “typical” looks like. After the intensity of bidding wars, waived contingencies, and double-digit appreciation, 2025 brought back the fundamentals: negotiation, steadier timelines, and modest price movement. A home sitting for a month isn’t a red flag—it’s a sign of balance. And buyers negotiating concessions aren’t exploiting weakness; they’re simply participating in a normal, functioning market. Looking toward 2026, those who embrace this balance will be best positioned for success, while those waiting for dramatic extremes—whether a surge or a crash—may find themselves stuck on the sidelines.

Sales activity softened alongside the season. Pending sales fell 11.05% month-over-month, while closed sales dropped 23.37%, mirroring historic holiday slowdowns as travel, weather, and end-of-year demands divert attention away from housing. Yet pending sales remained up 2.45% year-over-year, suggesting a steady foundation of buyer demand even during quieter months.

Price behavior continues to illustrate stability. The median close price dipped just 0.85% from October, landing at $585,000, and remains 0.86% higher than last year. Both detached and attached homes continued closing at just above 98% of list price, demonstrating that values remain solid even as activity slows. This stabilization has helped ease the rapid appreciation of the pandemic years. After values climbed more than 38% from early 2020 through spring 2022, the past three years of slower growth have brought the market back to a healthier place. From March 2020 to November 2025, the cumulative median price increase now stands at 31.5%, an annual average of roughly 6.3%—a pace that aligns far more closely with Denver's long-term historical norms. Together, these shifts illustrate a market that has moved beyond volatility and into a phase of sustainable, incremental change.

When a Billionaire Invests in People, Not Just Property

’Tis the season for slowing down—and for a rare feel-good real estate story out of the mountains.

If you’ve spent any time in a ski town, you already know the plot: breathtaking views, world-class recreation… and housing costs that have even well-paid locals scrambling to figure out how they’re supposed to stay. According to Hannah Jones, senior economic research analyst at Realtor.com, a median-earning household in Steamboat Springs can reasonably afford about $30,000 per year for housing, or roughly $2,500 per month. At current mortgage rates, that budget would support the purchase of a roughly $500,000 home with a 20% down payment, excluding taxes and homeowner’s insurance.

According to Jones, the typical home currently for sale in Steamboat Springs is priced at more than twice that amount, placing homeownership well out of reach for many local households.

Renting isn’t much easier. Median rent in downtown Steamboat Springs now hovers around $3,500 a month—well above what most local workers can comfortably afford. Teachers, service workers, long-time residents, and even doctors are increasingly squeezed out by second-home owners, vacation rentals, and the work-from-anywhere crowd that surged during the pandemic.

Enter Mark Stevens—a billionaire venture capitalist tied to companies like Google, PayPal, and Nvidia, part-owner of the Golden State Warriors, and philanthropist. Like many transplants, Stevens first fell in love with Steamboat in the 1990s while traveling there to ski. That connection eventually led him and his wife, Mary, to make the town home in 2020. A year later, they purchased Strawberry Park Ranch, an $18.5 million 562-acre property acquired for conservation and as a future family home, according to Steamboat Pilot & Today.

This year, however, the Stevens are making headlines for something beyond another high-profile purchase. Instead of adding a luxury retreat to their portfolio, they took a different approach—snapping up an apartment building and making it available specifically to the people who keep Steamboat running.

Riverview Apartments offers below-market rents reserved exclusively for locals who work in Steamboat Springs. There are no complicated housing authority lotteries and no income charts skewed by ultra-wealthy transplants. The requirement is refreshingly straightforward: at least one household member must work 30 or more hours a week locally and earn at least twice the monthly rent. What locals get in return? Studios around $925, two-bedrooms near $1,600, and three-bedrooms at approximately $2,125—prices that quickly drew a line of hopeful renters.

This story lands against a backdrop almost as striking as the Rockies. Colorado’s mountain towns have become magnets for extreme wealth, with estimates suggesting dozens—if not over 80—billionaires owning real estate across places like Aspen, Crested Butte, Telluride, and beyond, drawn by world-class ski resorts and lifestyle appeal. Many have invested heavily in commercial districts, ranches, or entire town centers. Against that backdrop, the Stevens’ approach stands apart. They didn’t just invest in real estate—they invested in people.

In a season when so much slows down, this story is a reminder that housing isn’t only about market cycles and price charts. It’s about people, place, and what it truly means to call somewhere home.

For Sellers:

The holiday stretch is traditionally the most challenging time of year for sellers in the Denver Metro market. Many listings are intentionally withdrawn in November and December, with plans to reintroduce them in January or February when buyer activity naturally climbs. Those who remain on the market today face longer days on market and fewer showings, but they also encounter less competition. Buyers who are touring during the holidays tend to be serious and motivated. Success for sellers comes from embracing the realities of the season—leaning into preparation, pricing with intention, and staying flexible. With pricing stable and market fundamentals intact, strong opportunities still exist for homes positioned thoughtfully.

For Buyers:

Despite the slower pace heading into winter, current conditions offer encouraging news. The 30-year fixed mortgage rate dipped to approximately 6.23% which is a noticeable improvement from 6.93% at the same time last year. Rates fluctuate daily and may vary slightly by the time this newsletter reaches you, but this shift supports improved affordability. Combined with longer days on market, steadier prices, and reduced competition, this season remains one of the best times of the year to buy in Denver Metro. Buyers who stay engaged while others pause for the holidays often find opportunities that disappear when spring activity resumes.