

The Montbello area was hit especially hard during the foreclosure crisis last decade. Now it ranks as the “hottest” suburban housing market not just in Colorado, but in the entire country, according to Realtor.com.

“It is the most popular and fastest moving from an inventory perspective,” said Jonathan Smoke, chief economist with Realtor.com. “It is not saying it is the most desirable or prestigious.”

The survey separated urban and suburban neighborhoods based on the population density of the ZIP codes in the 50 largest metro areas. Although locals consider Denver the urban core and outlying areas the suburbs, parts of Denver proper look more like suburbs based on density.

Suburban areas were then ranked based on how much home prices have appreciated the past three years, how quickly listings are selling and the increase in new households since 2000.

The top ZIP code in the country based on those three measures was 80239, which includes Montbello and the neighborhoods just south of the Rocky Mountain Arsenal and east of Dick’s Sporting Goods Park.

“It did well in all three areas,” Smoke said. But far northeast Denver stood out in pace of sales and how quickly home prices were appreciating.

Over the past three years, that area has averaged a 20.6 percent annual rate of home price appreciation. Only one area of Austin, Texas, and another in New Orleans posted faster rates of price appreciation, Smoke said.

In other measures of hotness, listings in the 80239 ZIP code generated 1.7 times the views of the typical listing on Realtor.com. And listings sold in a nation-leading 19 days, which was 40 days faster than the average for the country. The next-fastest sales in the study occurred in areas of San Jose and San Francisco at 23 days and 24 days.

Although Montbello didn’t rank near the top for household growth, it is one of the few areas in Denver where new single-family construction is available. And it is one of the few pockets of affordability left in metro Denver. The median price of a home in the area was $275,000, which is 47 percent below the $519,000 the NAR measured for Denver overall, Smoke said.

“That part of Denver was hard hit by the foreclosure crisis. That is why prices still offer relative affordability,” Smoke said.

Working-class families are hungry for homes they can afford, said Tony Martinez, an agent with RE/MAX Southeast who represents buyers and sellers in that ZIP code.

Some metro Denver families are moving to El Paso and Weld counties, trading long commutes to buy larger-sized homes, he said.

Smoke said Montbello residents face an average commute time of 30 minutes, which is low for an affordable suburb, and enjoy convenience to the airport and new developments like the Panasonic campus and the Gaylord Rockies Resort, slated to be the state’s largest hotel.

If anything, an average of 19 days on the market seems long for area home sales, Martinez said. “Most of my listings are gone in a few days,” he said.