{"id":1019,"date":"2026-05-30T19:33:47","date_gmt":"2026-05-30T19:33:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/coloradospringsmoverss.com\/?p=1019"},"modified":"2026-05-30T19:33:47","modified_gmt":"2026-05-30T19:33:47","slug":"new-development-in-aurora-seen-as-step-to-meeting-area-housing-needs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/coloradospringsmoverss.com\/?p=1019","title":{"rendered":"New development in Aurora seen as step to meeting area housing needs"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The hilly chunk of newly graded land sprawling over 900 acres along the E-470 corridor near Parker Road will be one of Aurora\u2019s largest developments when fully built, delivering what city officials see as vital: new housing.<\/p>\n

Read more Denver man sentenced to 22 years for child sex trafficking in Larimer County<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cThis is a long time coming, this phenomenal development,\u201d City Councilwoman Francoise Bergan said before Thursday\u2019s groundbreaking for Prairie Point by Oakwood Homes.<\/p>\n

More than 1,600 homes are planned for what will be a community of diverse types of housing at a range of prices, said Ryan Delp, the Colorado division president for Oakwood.<\/p>\n

Aurora, like many cities in a metro area where median home prices are far above the national level, aims to offer a variety of options for people who want to live in the city. Mayor Mike Coffman said the homes at Prairie Point will be geared more toward middle-income and above homeowners, but he said more choices will have ripple effects.<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery time we add to the supply, it affects prices and brings them down,\u201d Coffman said. \u201cAnd that\u2019s helpful to families trying to get a home.\u201d<\/p>\n

More choices are good, Ted Leighty said. \u201cWe need more Prairie Points.\u201d<\/p>\n

Planned communities have the flexibility to build a mix of stock, from starter homes and duplexes to upscale houses on bigger lots, said Leighty, CEO of the Colorado Association of Home Builders and the Home Builders Association of Metro Denver. He pointed to the pushback by Denver-area residents to building more high-density housing in neighborhoods to make room for lower-income and first-time home buyers now priced out of the market.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt makes new master planned communities even more important to meet our housing needs,\u201d Leighty said.<\/p>\n

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Leighty and others talked about a mismatch in the Denver-area market between home prices and what people can pay. The median price of a residential property sold in April was $605,000, up from $590,000 in March, according to the Denver Metro Association of Realtors.<\/p>\n

Denver had the 13th-highest median home price out of 49 metro areas analyzed by Redfin, a residential real estate brokerage firm. The median home sale price nationally was $396,173, up 2.4% from April 2025.<\/p>\n

A recent report by the National Association of Realtors and Realtor.com said that although the overall housing inventory has increased, transactions remain sluggish. The organizations\u2019 research found that a significant share of buyers can\u2019t afford the homes for sale.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe mismatch is especially severe in the middle of the market,\u201d the report said. \u201cIn most markets, lower- and middle-income households face a shortage of listings within their price range, while listings at higher price points are relatively more abundant.\u201d<\/p>\n

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The report scored different parts of the country on how well buyers\u2019 incomes align with home prices. The nationwide score was 74.9% in March, meaning on average, households can access only about three-quarters of the housing opportunities.<\/p>\n

The score is an improvement from 66.7% in March 2025, but still below the pre-pandemic level of 84.4%, said Hannah Jones, senior economist at realtor.com. Denver\u2019s score was about 74.5%, up 8.3% from 2019.<\/p>\n

There were 11,539 homes listed for sale in metro Denver in April, up from 9,845 in March, the reported. Jones said the metro area\u2019s inventory was 60.5% higher than in April 2019.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s a stark contrast to the national picture,\u201d Jones said.<\/p>\n

Nationwide, about 1 million homes were for sale in April, about 5% more than a year earlier but 11.9% below pre-pandemic levels, according to the real estate groups\u2019 report. Portions of the South and West have higher inventory levels because construction increased, Jones said.<\/p>\n

\u201cHome prices haven\u2019t come down as significantly as a glut of inventory would suggest,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n

The price per square foot in Denver was around $293 in April, compared with approximately $210 in April 2019, Jones said.<\/p>\n

Higher interest rates are among the reasons for a more stagnant market. Jones said in many markets, including Denver, homeowners feel locked in by pandemic-era, sub-3% mortgage rates.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe cost to deliver a new home has risen faster than household incomes. We\u2019re also at a time where land, labor, materials and insurance costs have increased,\u201d JPMorgan Chase\u2019s Denver team said in a statement.<\/p>\n

Read more Gov. Jared Polis again vetoes Colorado union-organizing bill<\/a><\/p>\n

Leighty, with the Colorado and metro homebuilders\u2019 associations, said other factors are fees charged by local governments to pay for the impacts of development. Those include the costs of utility connections and building permits. Water service makes up the largest share of the overall fees.<\/p>\n

The Home Builders Association of Metro Denver released a study last year that looked at how fees charged by 16 metro-area jurisdictions affect home prices. Leighty said Commerce City has reviewed its fees as a result of the analysis.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne reason why we did this study is to foster a dialogue with the local governments about the right balance between fees that are there for a purpose, to ensure communities have the resources to grow, but also make sure they\u2019re not using new housing development to potentially cover the cost of other areas of service or administering the city,\u201d Leighty said.<\/p>\n

Ultimately, the fees are \u201cgoing to be baked into the cost of the home,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

The association\u2019s study found that the average total fees paid in the 16 jurisdictions analyzed were about $68,000 for a single-family detached home and $52,000 for single-family attached homes, such as duplexes and triplexes. In five jurisdictions, fees made up more than 10% of the average closing price of a single-family detached home, the analysis said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe do need to keep homeownership within reach of more people,\u201d Leighty said, \u201cand right now, that\u2019s a difficult proposition in Colorado.\u201d<\/p>\n

The \u2018missing middle\u2019<\/h4>\n

Those would-be buyers who often are priced out of the market are middle-income earners, Leighty said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe \u2018missing middle\u2019 is real in Denver and nationally, because the economics of new construction often requires higher price points, which leaves teachers, nurses and first responders stretched financially,\u201d a JPMorgan Chase spokesperson said.<\/p>\n

Leighty said increasingly longer wait times for all the permits and documents needed to go forward with construction also add costs, especially if developers are carrying loans on the project.<\/p>\n

The pace of new residential construction in metro Denver has decreased in the past couple of years. \u201cDuring the pandemic, we were actually building at a pretty fast clip,\u201d Leighty said.<\/p>\n

The number of new housing starts peaked during the pandemic at 17,110 in 2021, according to data from the home builders\u2019 association. The total includes single-family detached and attached homes.<\/p>\n

The totals fell to 12,352 housing starts in 2024 and 10,066 in 2025.<\/p>\n

During its 35 years in Colorado, Oakwood Homes has focused on bringing \u201cattainable, affordable solutions to the market,\u201d Delp said. That means providing for the first-time homebuyer, someone looking for more square footage or retirees looking to downsize, he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re going to have different segments, hitting those different home sizes and price points\u201d at Prairie point, Delp said.<\/p>\n

Delp expects the infrastructure and land development to be completed in about a year and half and sales and home construction to start. Features will include an 18-hole, par-72 golf course, a swimming pool, parks and trails.<\/p>\n

Oakwood has received interest from multiple homebuilders, Delp added. Oakwood started discussions on the planned community around 2017.<\/p>\n

Oakwood paid $44.6 million for the land in 2021.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis land is one of the last large undeveloped sections inside the E-470 loop. And what makes it especially rare is that so much of the surrounding infrastructure is already here,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Get more real estate and business news by signing up for our weekly newsletter, On the Block.<\/em><\/p>\n

Read more Today in History: May 30, 10 killed in clash between striking steelworkers and police<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Oakwood Homes is building a 900-acre, planned community called Prairie Point in southeast Aurora. 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