My sister bought her house for about $221K a couple of years ago. Now it's worth over $430K. She lives close to lower Denver. The value of homes have gone up in Co and more so in Denver than where I live, way out in the burbs. My area is already upper-class and difficult to get in so I can understand why the value isn't as high, but not saying it's low. Maybe it's already priced too high.
The one thing I've noticed that's a really big change is the traffic. Cars on the road has tripled in my area. It was pretty quiet on the road when we first moved into this area, but now, it's always so busy. The plumber who did the plumbing on our kitchen sink/dishwasher today said his schedule is all booked up. They can't find enough plumbers for all the condos and apartments going up. I'm wondering where all these people are coming from that they have to build so much.
Good question, only the government knows the answer to your question about where people are coming from. But one indicator that may explain the influx of people would have to be the low unemployment rate in the city. It's the same for us over here, I think we've had the biggest gains over all perhaps, 200-300k people more in both cities combined. I-94 is like I-5 during rush hours in LA, but overall, all major arteries of traffic are jam pack regardless which you choose to be on. To make matters worst, about 30-40% of license plates you see in the metro here are Wisconsinites whom are willing to drive 1-2hrs to work here in the metro. But sadly, with this much activity in the metro area, houses aren't doubling like how your sister's property did. Almost all properties with average to high actually took hits during the housing bubble collapse and now just recouping their values. I don't know about the living expenses there but just looking up the average annual expenditure for housing category in Denver & Mpls/Stp metro area only differ by 2% only, Denver is about 34.4% and our metro 32.4%. Not much difference which is a great mystery as to why properties there are so high. You folks aren't exactly on Beach front properties like that of San Diego or the Bay area. Unless, you're on the rich upper class areas with 0 crime rates. Over inflated properties are the worst, if you owned and is paid for you'll be fine but if not, you would just be in financial ruin.
Just a question of curiosity, what is the minimum salary there to qualify a 500k loan?