Is now a good time to buy a house in Boulder?
The short answer
If you need to be in Boulder, it is not a bad time to buy. Prices have come down, especially at the top of the market, and Joel Ripmaster does not expect them to fall much further. Citywide, the typical home value is roughly where it was a year ago, homes take about a month to go under contract, and most sell below list price, which gives buyers room to negotiate.
People ask me whether now is the right time. My business has always been built on people’s needs, so my answer starts with the person asking, not the market.
If your life is here, or needs to be, this is not a bad moment to buy.
What has changed for buyers
For most of the last decade, buyers in Boulder competed. Today the typical home value is roughly where it was a year ago, about 63 percent of homes sold under list price in July, and the median home went under contract in about a month. That means inspections, time to think and real negotiation are back.
What has not changed
Boulder still has very little room to grow, so the homes people want most rarely sit. A well kept house near Chautauqua, on Mapleton Hill or with a protected view is not the same purchase as a house that needs work on a busy street. The averages hide that difference.
How I read it
Prices have come down. I don’t believe they have much further to fall. We may not have found the exact bottom, but we are bouncing along close to it.
Buyers have new tools today. They also face new headwinds. Most of the people I work with pay cash, so for them the decision rests on need more than on rates.
It is not the best time, and it is not a bad one. Things will turn around. Buy for what you need, not for what the market might do next.
- Zillow Home Value Index, Boulder, CO (values as of July 31 and August 31, 2026)