The Denver housing market has generally been on the decline over the past couple of years.
We all know that, and of course we’re not alone. But one of the best kept secrets in the local real estate market is that the value of homes in certain neighborhoods has actually increased over the same time period.

It seems homes near light-rail stations along the southeast line, which opened in November 2006, have increased by an average of nearly 4 percent over the past two years, according to local analysts, while the rest of the Denver market has declined an average of 7.5 percent.

Apparently, the closer a home is to the station, the more its value increases. Homes less than a half-mile from a station increased an average of 17.6 percent, while those 1 1/2 to 2 miles away increased just 0.1 percent on average. The data varied widely among stations, however.

Under its FasTracks program, the Regional Transportation District plans to create six new commuter-rail and light-rail corridors and extend three existing corridors by 2017, potentially creating other pockets where values are driven by proximity to rail and its stations.

In other markets with rail lines, single-family home values have increased anywhere from 2 percent in San Diego to 32 percent in St. Louis for example, according to data gathered by the Regional Transit District.

Transit is just one component pushing values up however. The structures and facilities developers create around the stations go a long way in helping drive the trend. And of course soaring gas prices also fuel demand for housing near transit.
Bottom line seems to be that as local transit gets bigger home prices in and around those areas will naturally increase.

Photo by pbo31, available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial license.