“This week Alterra Mountain Company made changes across a number of departments, mostly in corporate services, that impacted some full-time, year-round team members,” said Kristin Rust, vice president of communications, in an emailed statement.

Rust said that Alterra, as a private company, would not be releasing further information about “employee matters.” That includes how many positions were cut.

“The changes included open roles which we chose not to fill and were spread across Denver, remote employees, and some of our resorts,” she said.

Alterra, which is owned by KSL Capital Partners, maintains its headquarters at Zeppelin Station in Denver’s RiNo neighborhood.

Alterra, however, had been actively scouting a new headquarters in Denver, as well as a move to Salt Lake City. Although it has received approval for various incentives, Alterra has not announced if it will move or where.

The Downtown Denver Development Authority extended a $7 million loan to help Alterra with renovation and relocation costs if it placed its headquarters in Upper Downtown, a dense concentration of half-empty high-rise towers.

The Colorado Office of Economic Development and International Trade, in an emergency meeting on July 27, stepped forward with a $1 million grant and a $1 million loan to ensure the company didn’t relocate to Utah.

It also awarded up to $1.9 million in Job Growth Incentive Tax Credits to the company, which applied under the codename Project Odysseus. Those are linked to it creating an additional 106 net new jobs paying an average annual wage of $131,071 over the next 8 years.

The baseline headcount was locked in at the time the Colorado Economic Development Commission approved the award, said OEDIT spokeswoman Alissa Johnson.

“Because the JGITC is performance-based and paid in arrears, a company that fails to create net new jobs over the established baseline will not earn its incentive and no tax credits would be issued,” she said in an email.

That means Alterra Mountain would need to restore any jobs it cut this week before it could start claiming tax credits, assuming it moves forward with a headquarters relocation.

Alterra Mountain Co. employed nearly 4,500 workers in March, with the bulk of those workers concentrated at the company’s ski resort operations, according .

That contrasts with around 43,000 season peak employees at Broomfield-based Vail Resorts.

As of Friday morning, no federal Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification has been published by the Colorado Department of Labor and Employment.

A notice requirement is triggered when a company with 100 or more full-time workers cuts a third or more of its workforce at a given location or if more than 50 employees are impacted by the full closure of a single worksite or facility.

Alterra owns or manages 19 mountain destinations in North America, including the Steamboat Springs, Winter Park and Arapahoe Basin resorts in Colorado, and the Deer Valley and Solitude Mountain resorts in Utah.

The company leases about 40,000 square feet at Zeppelin Station, which would suggest a corporate headcount of somewhere between 200 to 300 people, depending on what share of workers are hybrid, meaning they work at home and in the office.

“These decisions were not made lightly, and it is incredibly difficult to part with even a single member of our talented and passionate team,” Rust said in her statement.

The median home price in Cañon City now exceeds that seen in Chicago, and in Montrose, home prices are just below those of Fresno, Calif., , an online loan platform.

Even in Fort Morgan, out on the Eastern Plains, median home prices are at levels seen in Virginia Beach, Va., which, for those who have never visited, is the equivalent of a Colorado Springs on the ocean.

“A home’s price tag only tells part of the affordability story. What matters most is how that price compares with what local households earn,” said Matt Schulz, LendingTree’s chief consumer finance analyst, in comments included with the report.

The U.S. Census Bureau defines a as one having an urbanized population ranging from 10,000 to 49,999 residents. There are 538 that fit the bill, and LendingTree refers to these anti-metros as towns.

LendingTree ranked micropolitan areas by their median home prices and also looked at the ratio of home prices to median household income to measure affordability.

Historically, the rule of thumb was for buyers to avoid homes priced three times above their household income — though buyers and lenders alike have stretched that boundary significantly since the pandemic.

The higher the ratio, the less affordable a market is and the more financially stressed residents are likely to be.

Of Colorado’s 10 micropolitan areas, five ranked in the top 50, a disproportionate representation. Put another way, half of Colorado’s micropolitan areas rank in the top 10% nationally for highest home prices.

The Breckenridge micropolitan, which includes Summit and Lake counties, ranks as the fourth most expensive housing market in the study with a median home price of $748,200 and an affordability ratio of 7.1.

Only Nantucket and Vineyard Haven in Massachusetts and Jackson, Wyo., stress their residents more when it comes to expensive housing.

The Steamboat Springs micropolitan, which covers Routt and Moffat counties, ranks as the seventh most expensive market in the study with a median home price of $564,500 and an affordability ratio of 5.9.

Given that those are ski resort communities with a mix of wealthy vacation homeowners and blue-collar resort workers, their top ranking doesn’t come as a surprise.

Tougher to explain is why resortless Montrose ranks as the 19th most expensive micropolitan area in the country, based on a median home price of $388,400 and an affordability ratio of 5.4.

And why is Fort Morgan, an agricultural hub with a median home price of $338,600 and an affordability ratio of 4.6, even on the list, much less in the 30th spot?

One possible explanation is that commuters working along the northern Front Range have turned it into a bedroom community.

Not far behind Fort Morgan is Cañon City, which has become a prison of unaffordability with a median home price of $324,000 and an affordability ratio of 5.2.

Homes now cost more in Cañon City than they do in Chicago, the nation’s third-largest city, according to LendingTree.

Interestingly, the Edwards micropolitan area, which includes Vail, and the Rifle micropolitan area, which includes Aspen, didn’t make the top 50.

Garfield County, while not a housing bargain, accounts for about eight in 10 residents in the Rifle micropolitan, corralling the high home values seen in Pitkin County.

Likewise, the pricey home values in Vail and Beaver Creek are diluted by the abundant mid-tier inventory seen in the more populated communities of Eagle, Dotsero and Gypsum.

Durango, Alamosa and Sterling also didn’t qualify for the 50 highest micropolitan areas in home prices.

The Green Ridge fire was discovered Sunday near the Stagecoach Reservoir, . That’s roughly 17 miles south of Steamboat Springs.

The governor’s release stated that there was zero containment and that 25 acres were burning as of Sunday night, with an estimated 480 structures under threat.

As of Monday morning, mandatory evacuations were in effect for an area bordered to the west by Routt County Road 212, to the south by Green Ridge, to the east by Service Creek and to the north by Stage Coach Reservoir, .

Pre-evacuations were also in place at that time for an area east and north of the mandatory evacuation zone. That area was bordered to the north by Stagecoach State Park and Blacktail Mountain, to the west by Routt County Road 16 and to the east by Service Creek and Bushy Creek.

Information on the cause of the fire was not immediately available.

This is a developing story and may be updated.

A Carbon County sheriff’s deputy first responded to reports of a man with a gun in Baggs, Wyoming — roughly 3 miles north of the Colorado border — at 1:15 p.m. Monday, according to a .

The man, who has not been publicly identified, “opened fire” on the responding deputy, striking him several times before fleeing the scene in a truck, said in a statement on social media.

Colorado law enforcement “immediately responded to assist,” according to the Moffat County Sheriff’s Office.

Wyoming Highway Patrol troopers and other Carbon County deputies pursued the man down Wyoming 789, Bakken said. The man shot again at law enforcement before driving off the highway and coming to a stop, he said.

Colorado’s Northwest Regional SWAT Team — including the Moffat County Sheriff’s Office, Routt County Sheriff’s Office, Craig Police Department, Steamboat Springs Police Department and Hayden Police Department — arrived in the area after the man drove off the road, Moffat County officials said.

The man died at the scene of the crash, Bakken said. Moffat County officials said Wyoming law enforcement also shot at the man. It’s unknown if he died in the crash or from a bullet.

The investigation is ongoing and being conducted by the Wyoming Division of Criminal Investigation.

Paramedics took the injured deputy to St. Mary’s Medical Center in Grand Junction.

“Our thoughts and prayers remain with the injured deputy, his family, and the dedicated men and women of the Carbon County Sheriff’s Office as they navigate the aftermath of this tragic event,” Moffat County Sheriff Chip McIntyre said in a statement.

Bo Yennie has made significant progress in regaining some of the independence he lost after suffering a spinal injury in a severe ski crash at Steamboat, and is confident he can make more with continued work.

But his insurance company believes he no longer needs to be in the nursing home where he receives physical and occupational therapy, which could force him to stop working on his recovery early.

Yennie’s family home is in rural Routt County, and traveling to a physical therapy center or finding someone willing to make frequent house calls is unfeasible, his son Ben Yennie said.

Yennie has a insurance plan through the . Medicare, including Advantage plans, covers up to 100 days of rehabilitation care following a significant injury or illness, if medically necessary. He started care on March 4.

But United made it increasingly difficult to get that care, requiring the family to get reauthorization every two days for Yennie to stay at Lemay Avenue Health & Rehab in Fort Collins, Ben Yennie said.

On April 10, after paying for about five weeks, United determined Yennie no longer needed residential care, forcing the family to pay out-of-pocket during the appeals process, he said.

About 99% of people in Medicare Advantage must get prior authorization for at least some services, typically high-cost ones such as nursing home care or non-emergency hospital admissions, .

Insurance companies say that prior authorization and reauthorizations as treatment progresses ensure that patients are getting the right level of care, while consumer groups see them as a way for insurers to save money by denying services patients need — or by adding enough hassles that they give up. Most authorizations ultimately go through, particularly if patients appeal.

In his appeal, Ben Yennie said his father’s and he requires treatment to raise it long enough to participate in physical therapy. It wouldn’t be safe for him to get that treatment in a setting without providers monitoring him before his sessions, he said.

They learned Wednesday that they won their appeal, meaning United will reimburse the family for their out-of-pocket spending, but another reauthorization is coming up. Ben Yennie said the company plans to review his father’s care again Thursday, meaning the appeals process could start again if it recommends discharging him.

Paying out-of-pocket for a $20,000-per-month nursing facility isn’t feasible for long, he said.

“He was a public school teacher. There’s only so much there,” he said.

United Healthcare released a statement saying that it conducts reviews to ensure plan members are getting the right care, using “peer-to-peer” conversations with providers and facilities. How often a patient’s care comes up for review depends on how complex their condition is and how it has evolved.

“We understand how difficult recovery and transitions between different levels of care can be for patients and families, especially following a serious injury. Our goal is to support members in accessing coverage for the right care, in the right setting, for the best possible recovery and health outcomes, following evidence‑based care to support that goal,” the statement said.

Kylie Thompson, social services director at Lemay, said insurance companies typically require more frequent reviews as a patient’s stay goes on, to ensure they’re still making progress, but not well enough to move to another setting. Part of her job is to help patients and their families understand their rights and navigate the process, she said.

In most cases, a review is just a phone call, but families want to focus on their loved one’s recovery and may get nervous that someone they don’t know is deciding on the person’s care, Thompson said.

“The process is not difficult… but it can be emotionally taxing,” she said. “Everything is on the line for that phone call.”

Insurers see requiring prior authorization and periodic reviews as a way to produce savings, but given the high percentage of care that they approve initially or following an appeal, no one knows if they’ve succeeded in that regard, said Adam Fox, deputy director of the .

A study found independent review organizations if the patient appealed, at least in New York.

“A lot of this is creating a huge amount of busywork,” he said.

A separate study estimated the average prior authorization request — significant, when added up over tens of thousands of customers, but far less expensive than the care patients are seeking in most cases. Since only a small percentage of people appeal their denials, insurers likely have savings in the short term, though those may not last if people experience complications from discharging too early, Fox said.

“They’re sort of gambling on that someone released early is not going to have additional care needs,” he said.

People can reduce their chances of disruption from insurance authorization by working closely with their medical providers, who are often the ones submitting the paperwork, Fox said. Everyone has a right to appeal a decision that went against them, but not to challenge how often the insurer requires reauthorization, he said.

Yennie said he has improved significantly since January, when he went over an unmarked ledge while skiing at Steamboat, essentially bruising his spinal cord in the crash. In the immediate aftermath of the accident, he could wiggle his toes, but couldn’t get his abdominal muscles to contract, which prevented him from sitting up without help. Other muscles over-contracted, pulling his arms in toward his body.

The doctors don’t know how much function he’ll regain, but they’ve warned him to expect a long process of physical therapy, Yennie said. He’s talked to people with similar injuries who aren’t back at baseline five years out, but continue making incremental progress.

At the moment, he’s working on transferring from his bed to a motorized wheelchair, as well as performing daily activities such as shaving and brushing his teeth. He needs to reach a point where he can get out of bed with only one person’s help before moving to a step-down facility, Yennie said.

“I’m not there yet, but I’m working on it,” he said.

His physical and occupational therapists have canceled sessions at times because of uncertainty about whether insurance would pay, Yennie said. United Healthcare initially reviewed his care after a week, then after four days and then after two days. He thinks the company is trying to wear him down.

“I don’t know what a person would do without advocates,” he said.

As of Wednesday, more than 70 protests were scheduled across Colorado on Saturday and nearly 4,000 were expected to take place nationally, .

“This action is a collective stand against concentrated power, political intimidation, and systems that elevate the wealthy few over the many,” activists with the Denver No Kings Coalition . “We are gathering to reject the authoritarian politics of Donald Trump and his corrupt administration, as well as the broader rise of fascist movements in the United States.”

According to local organizers, Saturday protests planned across the metro area include:

• Arvada on the at the Wadsworth Bypass, 7305 Grandview Ave., from 9 a.m. to noon
• Aurora at the intersection of from noon to 2 p.m.
• Brighton on the pedestrian bridge at from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.
• Boulder at the Bandshell at Broadway and Canyon Boulevard from 1 p.m. to 2 p.m.
• Broomfield at from 10 a.m. to noon
• Centennial at the intersection of from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.
• Commerce City at , 6015 Forest Drive, from 9 a.m. to noon
• Denver at the , 200 E. Colfax Ave., from 11:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.
• Denver at the , 9651 M.L.K. Jr Blvd., from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m.
• Denver at from 10 a.m. to 11 a.m.
• Golden along Washington Avenue, , from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m.
• Highlands Ranch at , 9203 S. University Blvd., from 10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.
• Larkspur at , 8850 Spruce Mountain Road, from 10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.
• Littleton at the intersection of from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
• Northglenn on the , 261 W. 104th Ave., from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m.
• Parker at , 10795 Victorian Drive, from 10 a.m. to noon
• Roxborough at the from 10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.
• Westminster at the intersection of from noon to 2 p.m.

Denver’s largest crowd is expected to gather outside the Colorado State Capitol at 11:30 a.m. Saturday, according to the . The coalition, made up of roughly three dozen local activist organizations, estimated Wednesday that Saturday’s attendance would surpass 70,000.

Singing and chanting will start outside the Capitol at 11:30 a.m., followed by speakers at noon and a 90-minute march around downtown at 1 p.m., according to local organizers. More speakers and performers will take the stage between noon and 5 p.m., when the protest is scheduled to end.

“This is what democracy looks like!” organizers wrote on the .

Protests will not be limited to the Denver area. Events are planned as far north as Steamboat Springs and Fort Collins, and as far south as Trinidad. Western towns, including Aspen, Montrose, Fairplay and Telluride, and eastern Colorado communities, including La Junta and Fort Morgan, plan to host their own protests as well, according to the .

CEO Jared Smith will step down from his role at the end of the season, . Smith will serve as an advisor to the “office of the CEO” over the next year as the recreation company searches for his replacement.

“Serving as CEO of Alterra has been an honor, and I am deeply proud of the incredible people, capabilities and businesses we’ve added to this amazing company,” Smith said in a statement. “The commitment of the ownership group to these mountains, and to the team members and communities they serve, is truly unique. I’m confident the progress we’ve made has positioned the company well to build on that foundation in the years of growth ahead.”

No reason for Smith’s departure was given.

Alterra, headquartered in Denver, is the company behind the Ikon Pass, which provides ski and snowboarding access to dozens of mountain resorts across the world. That includes Steamboat, Winter Park and Arapahoe Basin in Colorado.

An executive committee — including ownership representatives from KSL Capital Partners and Henry Crown and Company — will join with former CEO Rusty Gregory to lead Alterra’s day-to-day operations until a new CEO is appointed, according to the announcement.

“Jared has been a valued leader at Alterra Mountain Company for many years, and we are grateful for his leadership and partnership,” Alterra Mountain Company Board Chairman Eric Resnick, who is also CEO of KSL Capital Partners, said in a statement. “Over the course of his tenure, he has made a lasting impact during a period of continued growth and operational advancement, while ensuring the company maintained the culture and commitment to our communities that make Alterra special.”

But that doesn’t mean the concept won’t materialize another day or in another way, , where affordable housing advocates have discussed bringing it forward for rental units.

Pioneered in Vancouver, B.C., and copied in Oakland and San Francisco, residential vacancy taxes are both novel and controversial. Communities facing severe housing shortages and affordability problems view them as a tool to convert empty homes into permanent residences, or to generate tax revenues to help fund affordable housing if those conversions don’t happen.

“It was disappointing to have the bill die in committee when we were very willing to continue to make adjustments and concessions. This concept has been needed for several years, and I am glad to be able to start this conversation in the legislature,” said Rep. Brianna Titone, D-Jefferson County, a co-sponsor of the bill, alongside Rep. Elizabeth Velasco, D-Glenwood Springs.

Had passed, Colorado would have become the first U.S. state to broadly authorize a vacancy tax.

The bill would have allowed local governments lacking home-rule status to charge an excise tax on vacant homes with voter approval. Communities could define what they considered vacant, the amount of taxes to be charged, and how the revenues generated could be spent on housing.

Home-rule municipalities have the power to implement an excise tax on vacant homes; none have done so. One intent of the bill was to create a more level playing field, allowing counties, which are almost all statutory, to more easily cooperate with towns and cities in addressing housing shortfalls.

In an effort to blunt Front Range opposition, the bill was amended set a vacancy rate threshold of 25% or higher, which is way above the home vacancy rates seen in the state’s most populated counties.

“In some areas of the state, 40% of habitable homes sit vacant — not under construction, not for rent, but unused — contributing to an acute housing shortage for workers and families, even as hundreds of homes remain empty,” Titone said during the hearing on Monday.

Hinsdale, San Juan, Summit, Mineral, Pitkin, Grand, Routt, Jackson and Eagle counties have some of the highest vacancy rates in the state including second homes, according to the U.S. Census Bureau’s American Community Survey.

While counties, school districts and special districts can collect property taxes on homes, empty or not, municipalities tend to lose more than they gain when full-time occupants are missing. That’s because towns and cities rely heavily on sales tax revenues, which absentee owners don’t generate as permanent residents do. Nor do empty homes generate lodging or short-term rental taxes.

Those missing revenue streams can create a financial strain, local government leaders argue. Compounding matters, many mountain communities are limited in terms of the land they can develop. When the limited lots are tied up hosting homes that sit empty, workers don’t have the homes they need and are forced into long commutes. That makes it harder for those communities and local businesses to provide the services needed to support a tourism-based economy.

“Housing that’s affordable to service workers, teachers, nurses and public safety workers is one of the most pressing challenges facing Colorado communities, and this bill provides municipalities and counties with an important tool to address it. Colorado mountain resort communities are facing a workforce housing crisis that is threatening their economic viability,” Elizabeth Haskell, a legislative and policy advocate for the Colorado Municipal League, testified at the hearing.

The CML teamed with the Colorado Association of Ski Towns and elected officials in several mountain resort towns to testify in support of the bill. Supporters from the Front Range, including Jefferson and Clear Creek counties, as well as southeastern Colorado, also weighed in.

The argument originating from places like La Junta isn’t about converting vacation homes, but rather incentivizing investors and heirs to release empty homes that they are sitting on and not rehabilitating. Given that builders won’t touch those areas, even restoring a dozen or two old homes can go a long way in boosting the housing stock.

Testifying on the other side were Realtors, the Colorado Association of Homebuilders, the Colorado Apartment Association, the Colorado Competitive Council, as well as owners of second homes and those concerned more broadly about the erosion of private property rights.

“You can’t make housing more affordable by making it more expensive,” said Tyrone Adams, CEO of the Colorado Association of Realtors. “This bill invites arbitrary and inconsistent application across the state.”

Homes can end up vacant for a host of reasons, Adams said. Owners may be called away to a military deployment, take a job in another city, or find themselves in an extended care facility. Older mountain residents may not be able to live at altitude any longer, but they may want to retain a property for their family.

In a weaker economy, finding tenants might take longer, rehab efforts might be harder to finance, and builders might find themselves with excess inventories that require time to clear out. A natural disaster, such as a wildfire, could result in lengthy repairs and periods of vacancy.

While the Vancouver tax did reduce the vacancy rate, it failed to improve overall housing affordability, said Parker White, executive director of the Colorado Competitive Council. The only reliable way to improve affordability is to create conditions where builders can generate more supply, he said. That comes through reducing regulations, lowering fees and speeding up approval times.

That surge approach has worked for apartments in metro Denver, where rents have fallen to early 2022 levels, and where older market-rate units now can compete with income-restricted housing units built using tax credits.

“In short, this is more of a funding mechanism than it is a housing affordability piece of legislation,” White argued.

Some of those testifying noted that voters in mountain communities have rejected changes needed to boost workforce housing, essentially rejecting the tools they had at hand and then asking for a new one.

For example, Steamboat Springs voters, despite having one of the highest housing cost burdens in the state, rejected a 9% tax on short-term rentals and a 0.2% city sales tax to fund affordable housing development. In March 2024, voters, in a special election, rejected the annexation of the 420-acre Brown Ranch property, which would have allowed the Yampa Valley Housing Authority to construct 2,264 housing units.

The Town of Vail blocked Vail Resorts’ efforts to build 60 to 70 units of workforce housing, arguing it would harm the habitat of a herd of Bighorn Sheep in the area. Officials argued that the project could be built elsewhere and then tried to condemn the land so they could acquire it, triggering a lawsuit.

This is in a town where the and the average home price is $1.7 million, according to Zillow.

Others argued that second homeowners often make significant contributions to local communities via philanthropy, even if they don’t buy as many tchotchkes and hoodies from the Main Street tourism shops. And they heavily support local schools that their children will never attend. And there is the convertibility problem.

High-end vacation homes don’t switch easily to workforce housing, especially in expensive places like Aspen and Vail. Nor do low-end vacation homes, like summer cabins in the Foothills. And not all vacation homeowners are wealthy. Many have scraped by for years to establish a family refuge. Some retirees living on a fixed income testified that any new taxes would push them over the edge.

In the end, arguments from opponents were enough to sway three Front Range Democrats on the Colorado House Finance Committee — representatives Sean Camacho of Denver, Bob Marshall of Highlands Ranch, and Rebekah Stewart of Lakewood — to join Republicans to indefinitely postpone the measure by a 7-4 vote on Monday evening.

Titone, who is in her last term, argues a vacancy tax deserves continued consideration even if the first attempt stalled. Vancouver lowered its vacancy rate by 1.5 percentage points, and its “Empty Homes Tax” generated $194.3 million in revenues to support affordable housing, according to a 2024 study from the C.D. Howe Institute.

The record is more mixed in California. A San Francisco Superior Court judge ruled in 2024 that the tax was unconstitutional because it violated property-rights protections and penalized owners for not renting their units. But a legal challenge in Oakland, where the tax focused more on vacant land and buildings rather than rental units, went in the city’s favor.

In Denver, where empty apartments are more of an issue than empty homes, housing advocates are trying to coalesce support for a vacant rental tax, which could be implemented independently of state authorization, given Denver’s home-rule status.

“I hope that what we have learned, and will continue to learn from other places where this is being adopted, the legislature can find a framework that everyone can agree with to help the small businesses and workers in our resort towns,” Titone said.

, the first bill introduced in that chamber this year, cleared a final vote 35-24 on Friday. Most Democrats supported it, against total Republican — and some Democratic — opposition.

The bill now heads to the Senate, where a similar version of the proposal bled out in the 2025 session’s final days.

The bill would allow school districts, institutions of higher education, housing authorities and transit agencies to build housing on their own property by right. It would also allow other nonprofits to partner with a peer organization that has a “demonstrated history of providing affordable housing” to do so on the nonprofit’s land.

Dubbed the HOME Act — short for Housing Opportunities Made Easier — the bill, if passed, would take effect Dec. 31, 2027.

HB-1001 “is about streamlining the process and making sure that overly strict zoning laws do not prevent nonprofits who have a history of providing affordability housing — schools, organizations like RTD — from building housing if they want to, if they have a good plan,” Rep. Javier Mabrey, a Denver Democrat, told fellow lawmakers last week. He’s sponsoring the bill with Rep. Andy Boesenecker, of Fort Collins.

The proposal is both a continuation and a remix. It builds upon three years of land-use reforms backed by most Democratic lawmakers and Gov. Jared Polis. They have viewed measures easing the development of housing — achieved by leapfrogging local zoning rules and planning boards — as a primary solution to Colorado’s housing supply challenges.

Supporters of the approach have argued that local intransigence has slowed and blocked housing development across a state starved for more units of all types. They’ve pointed to reform- and development-stopping votes in places like Steamboat Springs, Littleton and Fort Collins.

This year, Democrats are also bringing established in many jurisdictions for single-family homes.

The HOME Act resurrects the bill that died last year. That version had focused more on allowing religious organizations to build housing on their land.

Like last year, Republicans and local government groups — chief among them the Colorado Municipal League — oppose the bill, arguing that it would violate locals’ ability to dictate rules for their own communities. In the bill’s committee vote last week, Rep. Max Brooks invoked the fundamental issue at the heart of that opposition: local control.

“I’m really not entirely sure that we’re talking about the same thing here, are we?” the Castle Rock Republican asked. “To where the public truly has an opportunity to come out and sit down, through those traditional processes, and voice the concern of what’s happening in their own neighborhood?

Mabrey replied that there was a “philosophical disagreement about this piece.”

“Across the country, people showing up at public comment to complain about housing being built in their backyard is part of the problem,” he said. “We are trying to streamline this process and make it easier to build housing.”

After crossing over to the Senate, the bill needs another committee vote before it can reach the floor.

Median sales prices, including both condos and single-family homes, were essentially flat last year at $550,000 for the full year, up $50 from the 2024 median sales price, according to a . The number of properties sold rose 1.8%, reaching 86,346, another modest move.

And after a couple of years of rapid increases, the inventory of homes available for sale settled down. As the year ended, there were 21,689 listings on the market, down 2.4% from the 22,217 available at the end of 2024. The market had three months of inventory available in December, close to the 3.1 months of inventory a year earlier.

Sellers did become more active last year, listing 128,130 homes and condos, an 8% increase from 2024. And the market tested their patience, with a listing taking 63 days on average to find a buyer compared to 55 days in 2024.

“2025 felt like a reset year for housing across Colorado,” Jared Reimer, a spokesman for the association and a Fort Collins-area Realtor, said in comments accompanying the report. “There were no dramatic advances or retreats, just a market that stayed resilient and balanced despite ongoing economic uncertainty.”

El Paso County was the state’s most active county for single-family home sales, accounting for about one in seven sales statewide. The median price of a home sold was $490,000, up $50 from the median sales price in 2024. The number of sales rose 2.7%, while the inventory of listings on the market in December was up 9% to 2,471.

Single-family home prices fell 0.7% in Denver County for the full year, moving from a median of $700,000 in 2024 to $695,000 in 2025. Total sales were down 1% to 5,663, and Jefferson, Douglas, Arapahoe and Adams counties all had slightly more detached home sales than Denver.

Denver did stand out for a nearly 23% drop in its inventory of homes for sale, which was nearly 10-fold larger than the 2.4% decrease statewide. Denver remained the leader in condo and townhome sales, even with a 14% drop to 2,926 closings.

Movement within the state’s otherwise chill housing market was concentrated in two areas — the northwestern corner of the state and some of the southeastern and south-central counties.

Routt County, home to Steamboat Springs, had one of the biggest price gains in the state — a 17.2% rise for single-family homes to $1.57 million. That was offset by a 2.4% drop in condo prices. Rio Blanco County, a much more affordable option, had a 15% gain in its median sales price to $311,000. Prices in Moffatt County also rose by 9.4% to $327,000.

Routt County looked like it was headed for a negative year at the end of September, with sold listings off 15% and the inventory up by nearly half, noted Marci Valicenti, a Steamboat Springs-area Realtor, in comments accompanying the report.

And then the momentum shifted.

“Buyer activity that typically peaks during summer instead materialized in the fall, leading to steady month-over-month improvement. By year’s end, single-family sales finished 2.5% higher than 2024, marking a notable turnaround. Of the 161 total transactions, 112 closed in the second half of the year,” she said.

Crowley County, east of Pueblo County, matched Routt County’s 17.2% increase in median sales prices. It just happened to be at one-tenth the price level — $153,500.  Further east near the Kansas border, Prowers County, home to Lamar, had a 10.9% increase in median sales prices to $214,000 and a 7.2% pop in sales. And to the north, Kiowa County saw a 73% jump in its median sales price to $147,000, the caveat being that the increase was based on seven sales.

Huerfano County did well with a 14.9% increase to $338,900 in its median sales price last year, and Conejos County, south of Alamosa on the New Mexico border, did even better with a 23.1% price gain to $240,000.

But the region also had pockets of weakness, such as Costilla County, with a 17.7% decline in median home sold prices, and Bent County, where prices dropped 20%.

Shifts in the mix of what sells in a given period can translate into big price changes in less-populated counties.

That was the case in San Miguel County, home to Telluride, which had the biggest price drop of any area last year — 68.7% for single-family and 12.6% for condos. There were 56 properties sold in both years, but far fewer ultra-luxury homes hit the market last year compared to 2024, resulting in a wild swing. And homes there spent 212 days before finding a buyer.

Telluride aside, the single-family market outperformed the condo/townhome market in a significant way last year across Colorado. Condo sales fell 6.4% last year, while the median price declined 3.1% to $410,000. The active inventory was down 3.1% to 5,749 units, and as the year concluded, the market was sitting on a four-month supply of condo/townhome listings, according to CAR.

Attached properties took 70 days to find a buyer, compared to 59 days in 2024 and 61 days for single-family homes.

Eagle County, home to Vail and Edwards, experienced one of the toughest condo markets after Telluride, with a 10.5% decline in median prices across the year and a 32.6% decline year-over-year in December. Sales were down 6.6% last year, while the inventory of condos was up 13.3%.

“A major factor influencing condo and townhome activity was the sellout of two large condo/townhome developments that had significantly boosted performance in 2024 and were fully absorbed early in 2025. Additionally, the closing of a substantial number of pending transactions in December may provide some early lift to 2026 activity,” said Vail-area Realtor Mike Budd, in the report.

Grand County was also on the weaker side, with a 6.6% drop in its median condo sales price and a 7.7% decline in sold listings.

“In Winter Park, the median listing price finished near $849,000, down 8.5% year over year, with days on market rising to about 104. Resort properties showed less upward pressure than earlier in the decade, though late 2025 saw renewed buyer activity and cash buyers accounting for roughly 25% of transactions,” said Monica Graves, a Realtor active in Grand County who provided comments for the CAR report.

For comparison, median condo prices fell 2.7% in Pitkin County, less than might be expected given a nearly one-third drop in sales. Routt County saw a 2.4% drop in median prices, accompanied by a 76.6% surge in condo inventory, which could spell weakness this year. In Summit County, condo prices were down 0.8%, while sales were up 3% and the inventory was down 6%.

Metro Denver’s condo market also weakened, with median sales prices down 3.7% to $395,000 and sales off by 8% compared to 2024. Listings spent an average of 59 days before finding a buyer last year, compared to 45 days in 2024.

Broomfield County was the weakest metro area condo market with a 10% decline in median sales prices and 17% decline in sales last year. Boulder County, by contrast, bucked the trend, with a 2.2% increase in median condo prices and a 1.4% increase in sales.

The usual suspects, ski resort areas, dominated the list of the most expensive housing markets in Colorado last year. Pitkin County, home to Aspen and Snowmass, had a median single-family home sales price of $8.4 million last year, up 13.3% from 2024, no small achievement given some of the blockbuster sales seen that year.

Summit County had a median sales price of $1.9 million for a single-family home, surpassing Eagle County at $1.82 million and Routt County at $1.57 million. But when it comes to condos, Eagle County still leads with a median sales price of $1.18 million compared to $837,500 in Routt County and $789,500 in Summit County.

Gunnison County, home to Crested Butte, beat out San Miguel County in December with a median single-family sales price of $1.1 million compared to $1.05 million. But for the year, San Miguel still had a higher median price.

Ouray County was putting on the ritz in December, with the median sales price of single-family homes reaching $1.02 million, making it the most expensive housing market without a downhill ski resort. For the year, the median sales price was $854,500, just ahead of La Plata County, home to Durango, at $837,450 and Boulder County at $835,000.

At the other extreme were Bent County, with 34 home sales at a median price of $123,500; Baca County, with 23 home sales at a median price of $115,500, and Cheyenne County with eight sales at a median price of $144,250.