Revolutionizing · Modernizing · Simplifying
Revolutionizing · Modernizing · Simplifying
Twelve homes. That is it. Twelve homes sold in one Cherry Creek ZIP code last quarter, and that was enough to crown it the hottest housing market in the entire Denver metro.
The ZIP is 80246. The Business Journals ran their latest quarterly analysis, pulled listing and sales numbers from Intercontinental Exchange, and put 80246 at the top of the metro for the third quarter of 2026. Nationally it landed at No. 19 on the list of the 20 hottest luxury markets in the country. So we are not talking about some sleepy pocket of Denver. This is money moving, and it is moving while the rest of the metro is cooling off.
Here is the part people miss though. The headline number is wildly misleading, and once you see why, you cannot unsee it.
In Q3 2026, those 12 homes sat on the market an average of 89 days. The average listing price was
To even make the ranking, a ZIP had to have complete data, an average sale price of at least $429,000, and at least 10 sales in the quarter. 80246 cleared all of it easy. And this is not a one-time fluke either. Back in Q3 2025 this same ZIP ranked the third hottest housing market in the whole nation, with an average sale price around
But now watch what happens when you look at what a normal buyer actually pays.
One national brokerage's data puts the median sale price in 80246 at about $655,000 over the three months ending in August 2026. Up 10% year over year, homes going in roughly 20 days. A separate housing data firm pegged the median sold price at $726,300 in September 2026, up from $630,100 a year earlier. That is a 15.3% jump, with the number of homes sold up 22.5%.
So which is it.
Both. And that gap is the whole story.
80246 is not one kind of place. It stretches across luxury Cherry Creek and Belcaro streets, where the mansions are, and it also covers entry-level condos. So when a handful of monster sales close in a quarter, they drag that average straight up into the stratosphere while the median, the actual middle of the market, stays grounded in reality.
Look at the top end. A home at 102 S Cherry St sold in July 2026 for $6.1 million. Over on Eudora, 12 S Eudora St, a 6 bed, 8 bath place at 8,588 square feet, closed July 17 for $4.4 million through Corcoran Perry & Co. And 55 S Dexter St, 5 bed, 6 bath, 7,684 square feet, sold September 22 for $3.1 million via a Denver brokerage.
Drop a few of those into a pool of 12 sales and your average explodes.
Now the other end of that same ZIP. Condos in the Cherry Creek Village complex at 5300 E Cherry Creek South Dr are listed as low as
That is why I always tell people, average sale price is the most abused number in real estate. One $6 million closing and the whole ZIP looks like it is only for the ultra rich. The median tells you where you actually stand.
Here is what makes 80246 genuinely interesting, and it is not the big numbers. It is the timing.
The broader Denver market is clearly loosening up. The Denver Metro Association of Realtors reported active listings climbed to 13,567 in September 2026, while closed sales fell 21.4%. And 32.1% of Denver listings were carrying a price cut. Almost a third. That is a market where sellers are blinking first.
But in 80246, homes are moving in 20 days and prices are still climbing double digits. So while the middle of the metro cools, the luxury money is staying put and staying aggressive. That is the signal worth your attention. Soft markets tend to hit the entry level and the move-up buyer first. The high end, the cash buyers, the trophy streets, they ride it out.
And it is not just 80246. Three of the metro's wealthiest ZIP codes all sit just east and southeast of the urban core. That includes 80206, which wraps around Country Club, Congress Park, Cherry Creek and Cheesman Park. There is a reason that corner of Denver keeps showing up on these lists. The land is finite, the streets are established, and the people buying there are not stretching to make a payment.
So if you read that 80246 headline and figured you were priced out, slow down. Yes, there is a $6.1 million Cherry St sale in the mix. But there is also a
That is the thing about a number like