For the record, if you want to claim to live in THE Wash Park, you need to live on the east side of the park, and live north of Louisiana and south of Virginia. If you don’t believe that, just look at the numbers: in 2009, the average sale price of a home in this area came in at $821,000 with a Price Per Square Foot ($PSF) of $379! Of course, 21 of the 79 homes sold that year were well over $1 million, so the average price skewed much higher than normal, as evidenced by the average sale price in 2010 – $670,000 – and the $650,000 for 2011. Still, with the possible exception of Hilltop and Country Club, there is no neighborhood in central Denver that commands such a high price point without feeling exclusionary to the average homebuyer. Which is why Wash Park remains most popular neighborhood, hands down.

Example: last year, 85 total homes sold in East Wash Park – two were attached single family (ASF) – 14 of them sold for under $400,000. Mixed in with the 9 homes that sold for more than $1M, you understand why East Wash Park attracts such a wide spectrum of homeowners, as opposed to West Wash Park, which is vibrant, albeit slightly more modest pricewise. Of course, there are rental homes sprinkled throughout the neighborhood, bringing in an even wider demographic.

Here is the list of homes that sold in East Washington Park in 2011:

85 Homes Sold in East Wash Park in 2011

####

So, by now, I assume you’re fixated on the nearly $200,000 drop-off in average sale price from 2009 to 2011. Keep in mind that the million-dollar sector of the housing market all but disintegrated in 2010. Lenders stopped giving out jumbo loans and with cash buyers looking for deals, million-dollar homes turned into six-figure homes. So why was there such an uptick across the board in 2011 for million-dollar homes? It’s the old joke about owning a vineyard: how do you make a small fortune in the wine business? Start with a large fortune. Why did so many homes in the $1 million-dollar range sell in 2011? Because they all used to be in the $2-3 million range.

Fortunately for East Wash Park, it doesn’t rely on this sector to maintain volume and $PSF. In 2010, 82 homes sold at an average $PSF of $383, which was up from $379 in 2009. Last year 85 homes sold in East Wash Park, averaging $375 PSF. And no, sellers didn’t get desperate, either. These homes sold in less than 12 weeks!

Consider the current inventory of the entire city of Denver. Normally, it takes an average of 8 months to clear out the entire active inventory of homes at any given time. Because inventory is so low, the new average is only 4 months. In East Wash Park, it will take 9 weeks to clear out the 15 current active listings, which you can find here: 744 S York, 1250 S Gaylord, 1125 S Race, 923 S Gilpin, 1103 S High, 1026 S Williams, 700 S Gaylord, 876 S Gaylord, 1076 S Vine, 518 S Gilpin, 882 S York, 1046 S Williams, 565 S Gaylord, 1082 S High, and 947 S Gilpin.

And again, these homes are currently trending higher in Days on Market than those that have sold. Which means that new listings will get a lot of attention. And, if they’re priced right, will potentially sell before these.

East Wash Park remains Denver’s strongest neighborhood, and with more inventory, it will once again produce tremendous sales. And if you think the secret is safe in Denver, think again. The whole world knows about Denver now. Check this out.

Karl Lueders is a residential Realtor with The Kentwood Company at Cherry Creek. He can be reached at 720.971.8267, email, Twitter or G+.