In September 2026, Denver metro condos and townhomes had their weakest showing of any housing type in the region. The median close price for attached homes fell 6.28% from a year earlier to $365,500. Inventory reached 7.21 months, according to the Denver Metro Association of Realtors September 2026 Market Trends Report. In the same month, a 6,060-square-foot townhome at 500 Adams Street in Cherry Creek North sold in cash for $4.3 million after eight days in the MLS. It was the highest-priced attached sale in the metro that month.
Both results come from the same report. If you are comparing a Cherry Creek condo or townhome with a detached house elsewhere in the metro, the headline about Denver's condo market may not describe the building you are looking at. Above roughly $1 million, the attached market moves on different terms. Cherry Creek's development pipeline helps explain why those terms are likely to hold.
The same report shows two condo markets
DMAR's committee wrote that the $1 million+ segment "is telling a different story" from a broader market under pressure. For attached homes, the gap is wide.
| Metro Denver, September 2026 report | All attached homes | $1M+ attached homes |
|---|---|---|
| Direction of sales | Segment "continue[s] to struggle" | Year-to-date closings up 6.35% |
| Price or pace | Median close price $365,500, down 6.28% year over year | Median 23 days in MLS |
| Supply | 7.21 months of inventory | Sales up in all three tiers DMAR tracks |
Within the luxury attached segment, year-to-date sales through September 2026 rose 5.60% from $1 million to $1.5 million, 5.41% from $1.5 million to $2 million, and 11.11% above $2 million. The highest tier grew the fastest.
A year earlier the picture looked very different. In October 2025, the Denver Post reported that metro sales volume for $1 million-plus attached homes was down almost 25% year over year in September 2025. The same article covered a penthouse at Laurel Cherry Creek, 155 Steele St. It listed for $9.8 million, went under contract after a bidding war three days later, and closed at $10.1 million on Oct. 8, 2025. That sale was an outlier in a weak year. Twelve months later, fast top-tier sales like it are the pattern for the whole segment.
How a cash sale changes the negotiation
The September 2026 report also shows what changed for financed buyers. The 30-year fixed rate rose each week of September to about 7.5% by month's end, and the Federal Reserve raised the federal funds rate for the first time since July 2023, wrote Amanda Snitker, chair of DMAR's Market Trends Committee. Her outlook for the fourth quarter put the shift in financing terms:
"Rate buydowns, seller-paid concessions and adjustable-rate loans are all on the negotiating table right now, and sellers who build those options into their pricing strategy will find a ready audience."
That is the friction across most of the market. A financed buyer's offer often comes with requests attached, and part of the seller's proceeds goes toward the buyer's monthly payment. The two largest sales DMAR highlighted in September 2026 had no financing at all. The 500 Adams Street townhome closed in cash. So did the month's top detached sale, a $7.4 million estate in Castle Pines Village.
When the buyer pays cash, the rate sheet has much less effect on the price. Neither side has to negotiate buydown math or wait on an appraisal for a lender. That is one reason $1 million+ listings had a median of 21 days in the MLS in September 2026, compared with 32 days for the broader market. DMAR's Michelle Schwinghammer described the segment as one that "isn't waiting for conditions to improve."
Cash buyers are only part of the explanation, though. Buyers with cash still need something to buy, and the Cherry Creek pipeline adds very few for-sale homes.
Cherry Creek is building rentals
The Cherry Creek Alliance's 2025/2026 State of Cherry Creek Report lists every major project under construction or announced in the area. Here are the residential projects:
| Project | Address | What it adds | Target year |
|---|---|---|---|
| Modera Cook Street | 195 Cook St | 110 apartments | 2026 |
| 299 Milwaukee St | 299 Milwaukee St | 177 apartments | 2027 |
| Cherry Lane | 2375 E 1st Ave | 380 apartments | 2028 |
| 50 S. Steele St | 50 S. Steele St | 416 apartments | 2028 |
| Cherry Creek West, Phase 1 | 2500 E. 1st Ave | 400 apartments | 2029 |
| Cherry Creek West, Phase 2 | 2500 E. 1st Ave | 430 apartments | 2033 |
| 3865 Cherry Creek North Dr | 3865 Cherry Creek North Dr | 276,240 SF of apartments | 2027 |
| 2625 E 3rd Ave | 2625 E 3rd Ave | 100,000 SF of apartments | TBD |
| Waldorf Astoria Residences | 185 Steele St | 37 condo homes | 2028 |
| Four Seasons | Detroit St | 42 condo units | TBD |
The six apartment projects with listed unit counts add up to 1,913 units. The two condo projects add up to 79. The last two apartment projects in the table are measured in square feet, so the rental total is higher still.
Rental buildings do not compete with a condo or townhome resale for an ownership buyer. If you want to own in Cherry Creek North rather than rent there, the new for-sale homes on this list are the two branded buildings, and neither is expected to be finished before 2028. A smaller unbranded condo plan, covered below, would add roughly 20 to 30 units. Every condo and townhome resale in the neighborhood sells against that small supply.
Most new condos come with a hotel brand and a long wait
Most of the new condo units planned for Cherry Creek are in two branded buildings, and one smaller project is in the early stages.
- Waldorf Astoria Residences, 185 Steele St. Property Markets Group broke ground on the 37-condo building in November 2025, BusinessDen reported. At the groundbreaking, 65% of the condos had already sold, and the official completion target was the first quarter of 2028, according to the Denver Gazette. In September 2025, the developer advertised prices starting at $2.3 million.
- Cherry Creek, A Four Seasons Private Residence, 215 Detroit St. Four Seasons announced the project on Oct. 29, 2026. It is the brand's first standalone residence in Colorado. The eight-story building will have 42 one-, two- and three-bedroom homes ranging from 1,260 to 6,000 square feet. 10 Design is the architect, and Tihany Design is doing the interiors. The developer is a consortium of Wexford Real Estate Investors, Stillwater Capital, Zabel Investment and Brue Baukol, as Mile High CRE reported. A permit application earlier this year showed a sales center planned across the street at 280 Detroit St., the Denver Post reported.
- 2625 E. Third Ave. Nichols Partnership plans a condo project of roughly 20 to 30 units with ground-floor retail, the Denver Post reported in January. Denver City Council approved the rezoning to C-CCN-4 on April 13, 2026, and the mayor signed it on April 17, according to the city's legislative record. The Cherry Creek Alliance report lists this same site as an apartment project.
At a branded building, a buyer commits years before move-in, at prices set by the brand. Those buildings also set the reference point for the neighborhood's existing luxury condos. If a well-located resale at 155 Steele St. or on Adams Street costs less than an unbuilt Waldorf unit and is available now, it has a real advantage. That is the most likely reason a resale like 500 Adams Street can sell in eight days.
What this changes when you compare homes
For a buyer weighing a Cherry Creek condo or townhome against a detached house in the south suburbs, the useful comparison is not the metro attached median. DMAR's metro numbers say more about which segment a home falls in than about which neighborhood it is in. Below $1 million, attached homes carry the slow absorption and the concession requests described above. Above $1 million, the same report shows faster sales and rising volume through September 2026.
Timing matters too. Snitker wrote that most September closings went under contract in August, when rates were around 6.7%, and that "the full impact will show up in October and November closings." She also expected active listings to taper through the fourth quarter as some sellers pull their homes for the holidays. In Cherry Creek, a smaller winter selection meets a neighborhood with very little new for-sale supply. Delivery of the first branded condos is still more than a year away.
A few distinct questions
Does the metro condo slowdown apply to every building in Cherry Creek? DMAR's figures are metro-wide, and they split by price. In the September 2026 report, attached homes under $1 million made up the slow segment, while $1 million+ attached sales rose year to date. A Cherry Creek unit's price point says more about its likely pace than the neighborhood name does.
When do the new branded condos arrive? Waldorf Astoria Residences at 185 Steele St. targets the first quarter of 2028. The Four Seasons project at 215 Detroit St. was announced on Oct. 29, 2026, and the Cherry Creek Alliance lists its completion as TBD.
Will the new apartment buildings pull buyers away from condos? The pipeline adds nearly 2,000 rental units across the projects with listed unit counts. Those homes serve renters, so they do not add to the ownership supply that a condo or townhome resale competes with.
If you are weighing a Cherry Creek condo or townhome against a branded residence that won't be finished until 2028, or deciding how to price one in a market where buyers paying cash may be your audience, Sherry Beindorff can walk you through recent sales at your price point and the buildings that compete with yours. Work With Us.
