ZIP 80227’s clearest tension is a modestly cooling asking-rent reading against a more pronounced weakening in its separate for-sale evidence. The current Zillow ZORI is $1,805, down 0.36% in the latest same-month comparison. That is a limited change in a typical observed asking-rent index, yet the direct ZIP resale series shows a much larger price reset. The split means that one current rent snapshot should not be read as a complete housing-market verdict: asking-rent conditions are only slightly softer, while buyer-seller pricing signals require a separate interpretation.
The backward-looking rent path explains why the latest decline deserves context. The one-year exact same-month annualized change is -0.36%, while the three-year measure is +0.87% and the five-year measure is +3.16%. Recent direction therefore breaks from, rather than confirms, the longer expansion. The history contains 91 monthly observations and 90 consecutive monthly returns, with 100% coverage. Its 2.41% annualized monthly-return variability indicates relatively contained movement, supporting moderate confidence in the index as a broad snapshot rather than a listing quote. Separately, the maximum drawdown was -4.17%, showing that a meaningful prior pullback occurred even in a generally positive five-year path. Transparent national discovery ranks among history-eligible ZIPs place momentum at 2,390, stability at 541, and balanced performance at 1,758; lower ranks are stronger. These are historical measurements, not forecasts or investment recommendations.
Zillow ZORI is a ZIP-level typical observed asking-rent index blended across rental types, so it is not the same universe as either a lease-specific asking price or Census rent. The matched Census ZCTA five-year survey reports median gross rent of $1,872, 3.6% above the current ZORI; ACS covers occupied renter homes and gross rent includes selected utilities. The five-digit label is both a Zillow ZIP market identifier and a Census ZCTA match, but a ZCTA is a statistical area and is not identical to a USPS delivery ZIP. HUD FMR/SAFMR is instead an administrative, bedroom-specific standard, not asking rent; its local two-bedroom standard is $2,089.
The bedroom figures should be treated as modelled estimates, not measured bedroom rents. Scaling ZIP ZORI through the local HUD ladder produces estimated monthly levels of $1,420, $1,516, $1,805, $2,362, and $2,634 from studio through four bedrooms, respectively. This approach preserves the ZIP index as the overall rent anchor while using HUD’s relative bedroom steps to create an internally consistent ladder. It does not establish that a currently available unit at any bedroom count is offered at that amount, nor does the two-bedroom correspondence validate a particular building, utility package, condition level, or lease term.
The matched ZCTA survey records 16,453 housing units, a 33.2% renter share, and a 5.25% overall vacancy rate; 349 units were classified as vacant for rent. Those are area-level housing-stock and vacancy measures, not evidence that any particular rental is available or empty. Median household income is $90,316. A 30% required-income screen on the current asking-rent index equals $72,200, or 24.0% of that median income; this is arithmetic, not advice or an applicant qualification rule. ACS also reports 2,744 renter households with costs at or above 30% of income, a 53.0% burden share. That burden statistic describes surveyed occupied renter households and cannot prove the affordability of a specific unit or household.
For wider benchmarks, Lakewood city context shows a rent level of $1,814; Jefferson County context shows $1,981; and Denver-Aurora-Lakewood, CO metro context shows $1,930. The ZIP index is therefore close to the city-context figure and below the county- and metro-context figures, without establishing why. City, county, and metro values are wider-geography context only, not substitutes for the direct ZIP reading. The metro context also reports 8.29% apartment vacancy, but that apartment-market measure should not be converted into a ZIP vacancy conclusion because it covers a different geography and rental universe.
Redfin supplies direct rolling-three-month ZIP resale evidence, not rental transactions or rental comparables. Its median sold price is $512,129, down 10.93% year over year, with 147 homes sold and a median 14 days on market. Redfin reports 281 active listings and an inventory measure of 133, alongside 2.7 months of supply. Sale-to-list signals were restrained rather than uniformly competitive: the average sale-to-list ratio was 99.16%, 26.6% of sales closed above list, and 52.19% went off market within two weeks. The $1,805 annualized ZORI divided by median sold price produces a 4.23% cross-source screening ratio only; it is not a measure of property operating economics or valuation. The sizeable resale-price decline challenges the comparatively mild rent cooling, while the transaction pace and short marketing time show that the resale observation is not simply absent activity.
Several limits should govern use of this evidence. ZORI is an index rather than a unit-level quote; ACS is a survey with published uncertainty; HUD is an administrative standard; and Redfin tracks completed ZIP resale activity over a rolling period. None can answer what a specific available home will rent for, sell for, or cost to operate. Before applying these area measures to a property, check the advertised bedroom count, rent, included utilities, concessions, listing date, lease duration, condition, sale comparables, list-price history, and whether the unit is actually available. Which listing-specific facts would materially change the broad ZIP picture presented by these separate datasets?
","findings":[{"body":"The latest one-year asking-rent change is negative, but the three-year and five-year same-month measures remain positive. Low-to-moderate history variability and a limited maximum drawdown support use of ZORI as a broad trend indicator, while the negative current direction means the latest value should not be treated as a continuation of the longer path.","title":"Cooling is recent, not the full historical story"},{"body":"Zillow ZORI summarizes observed asking rents across rental types. ACS median gross rent describes surveyed occupied renter households and includes selected utilities. HUD FMR/SAFMR is a bedroom-specific administrative standard. The gap among these figures is therefore a scope difference as well as a price difference, and none independently supplies a unit-level lease quote.","title":"Rent measures answer different questions"},{"body":"The arithmetic 30% income screen places the current index below the matched ZCTA median household income benchmark, yet more than half of surveyed renter households report costs at or above 30% of income. That contrast shows why a median-income comparison cannot describe every renter’s circumstances or demonstrate affordability for a particular available dwelling.","title":"Area burden is substantial despite the median-income screen"},{"body":"Redfin’s direct ZIP resale observation shows a materially lower median sold price than a year earlier, while ZORI is only modestly lower. At the same time, sales volume, short marketing time, limited supply, and near-list sale pricing indicate active resale conditions. These are for-sale signals and should not be used as rental transaction evidence.","title":"Resale repricing is sharper than rent cooling"}],"risks":["The ZORI figure is a blended asking-rent index across rental types, so it can differ from the advertised price, concessions, utilities, size, condition, and availability of any individual rental home.","ACS results come from a matched statistical ZCTA rather than an identical USPS delivery ZIP, are five-year survey estimates of occupied homes, and should not be read as real-time lease-market evidence.","HUD-scaled bedroom amounts are modelled estimates derived from the ZIP index and an administrative ladder; they are not measured rents, quoted rents, or proof of attainable pricing for a specific bedroom count.","Redfin resale statistics describe completed for-sale activity in a rolling ZIP period. The rent-price screening ratio combines separate sources and cannot reveal property expenses, financing terms, unit condition, or transaction-specific economics."],"qa":[{"a":"The one-year measure is negative, but the three-year and five-year exact same-month measures remain positive. The record also has full stated coverage and relatively contained variability. Together, those backward-looking results describe recent cooling after a longer positive path, not a forecast of where rents will go next.","q":"Why does the latest rent decline not by itself establish a long-term downturn?"},{"a":"They are built for different purposes. Zillow ZORI is a typical observed asking-rent index across rental types, ACS gross rent is a five-year survey measure for occupied renter homes that includes selected utilities, and HUD FMR/SAFMR is an administrative bedroom-specific standard. Differences do not automatically indicate an error or a market opportunity.","q":"Why can Zillow ZORI, ACS gross rent, and HUD standards differ?"},{"a":"It is annualized ZIP ZORI divided by Redfin’s median sold price, combining an asking-rent index with a resale-price statistic from a different source universe. It is useful only as a high-level cross-source screen. It does not include operating costs, financing, taxes, repairs, vacancy experience, or property-specific terms.","q":"What does the rent-price screening ratio mean here?"},{"a":"Confirm the actual advertised rent, bedroom count, square footage, included utilities, concessions, lease duration, availability date, and physical condition. For a for-sale property, review comparable closed sales, listing history, list price, contract terms, and condition differences. These property-level facts determine whether broad ZIP indicators are relevant to that individual listing.","q":"What should be checked before applying this ZIP analysis to a particular property?"}],"sources":[{"key":"apartment_list_time_on_market","name":"Apartment List Time on Market — listing liquidity","release":"Apartment List 2026-07","pulledAt":"2026-08-08","url":"https://www.apartmentlist.com/research/category/data-rent-estimates"},{"key":"apartment_list_vacancy","name":"Apartment List Vacancy Index — rental vacancy","release":"Apartment List 2026-07","pulledAt":"2026-08-08","url":"https://www.apartmentlist.com/research/apartment-list-vacancy-index-methodology"},{"key":"census_zcta_facts","name":"Census ACS five-year — ZCTA housing and income","release":"ACS 2024 5-year ZCTA","pulledAt":"2026-08-08","url":"https://api.census.gov/data/2024/acs/acs5.html"},{"key":"hud_zip","name":"HUD USPS crosswalk and Small Area FMRs — ZIP rent fallback","release":"ZIP-CBSA 2025Q4 + SAFMR 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