Real Estate Blog

It’s Christmas week, and based on what we’ve seen during the commute this week, many of you have taken off work. So while you’re enjoying your time off eating leftovers and commiserating with family, we’ve put together a holiday collecting of newsy reads for you.

This time of year is typically slow for news, but we’ve had a lot to report: Interesting economic news, a change in drilling setbacks, the passage of the farm bill, the sale of oil leases on public lands and the sale of a popular bar and eatery in Lower Downtown.

If you’re enjoying our weekly real estate and business news roundup, forward it to a friend and tell them to subscribe here.

Helen H. Richardson, Denver Post fileThe skyline of Denver as seen from South Colorado Boulevard.Big 10 country
It’s bowl season, but we’re not talking about college football: It’s the state’s economy. Just 10 counties in Colorado claim 85 percent of the state’s economic activity. And it’s no surprise that those Big 10 are along the Front Ran..

Home price gains across much of the country, including metro Denver, showed signs of slowing in October, according to the latest S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller Indices, which came out on Wednesday.

“October marked another month of slowing home-price appreciation, but recent signs point to a gentle softening of the housing market, rather than a crash landing,” said Ralph McLaughlin, deputy chief economist for CoreLogic in a blog post on the numbers.

McLaughlin and other analysts argue the cooling should provide a respite for homebuyers who have been at a disadvantage the past several years.

“For the time being, this slowdown represents a return to fundamentals more than anything else, and to more balance between buyers and sellers,” said Zillow Senior Economist Aaron Terrazas

The composite index covering 20 large cities posted a 5-percent annual gain in October, down from 5.2 percent in September. Las Vegas home prices remain on fire, with its index rising 12.8 percent year-over-year. S..

A long-standing effort to slow the pace of new home construction in Lakewood got a big boost this week after a judge dismissed all challenges to a proposed ballot measure that would limit new home permits issued by the city to a 1 percent annual increase.

Jefferson County District Judge Diego Hunt issued a ruling late Wednesday that clears the way for the measure, dubbed the Strategic Growth Initiative, to either be approved by the Lakewood City Council at its first meeting of the new year or get sent to voters in a special election, likely to be conducted in the spring.

There’s also the chance that forward progress on the measure could once again be stymied if the man who first challenged it more than a year ago, Lakewood resident Steve Dorman, appeals Hunt’s ruling to a higher court.

On Thursday, Dorman’s attorney told The Denver Post he intended to take the case to the Colorado Court of Appeals.

The fight over the Strategic Growth Initiative, which was first proposed in June 201..

The Puget Sound area has seen its high-tech job base increase 26 percent over the last two years, making it the fastest high-tech job growth market in the nation.

Bond Collective, a New York-based luxury coworking space, leased 25,871 square feet on the first two floors of Pennzoil Place at 711 Louisiana St. in downtown Houston.

The City of Memphis continues to plan a rental property registry to help deal with code violations on buildings and land owned by out-of-state firms.

The public draft of Memphis 3.0, the city's first comprehensive land-use plan in nearly 38 years, contains verbiage about a previously planned rental property registry that would require “a local, registered agent for property owners who reside outside of the city limits to maintain the property and address any code issues that may arise.”

The registry…

Buyers continue to scoop up properties near Pepper Place.

The number of participants in the construction workforce could be declining, according to local industry executives

With more than 2,100 acres to play with, it would be about three times the size of Mueller. Find out how developers are proceeding at City Hall, and how they're trying to allay concerns about environmental impact.

Lincoln Property Co. has plans for a 1.2 million-square-foot build-to-suit industrial project in west Glendale.