A major benefit of living in Aurora: home prices.
"Denver does not have the same affordability that Aurora does," says David Barber, president of the Aurora Association of Realtors.
Like many other cities' housing markets, Aurora's has benefited from the first-time home buyer tax credit.
•Sales status. In October and November many first-time home buyers rushed to take advantage of the federal tax credit before the November deadline, Barber says. By year's end, the expanded tax credit extension provided home buyers with more time to make decisions, which may have been a contributor to December sales that were 26.9% lower than the same month in 2008.
Home buyers are starting to resurface. Even high-end homes are attracting more attention because of the expanded tax credit.
"It's not taking people who weren't considering buying a home and putting them into the market," Barber says of the tax credit extension. "But it's helping move forward people who have been vacillating about whether or not it's time to move into a new home."
•Price points. In the city's core neighborhoods, modest homes built in the 1940s and 1950s abound.
Aurora's median sales price in December jumped 10.6% from December a year ago. Home foreclosures have slowed, which pushed prices up, as did a reduction in home inventory because of brisk fall sales.
•Local economy. Aurora's unemployment rate is included in the Denver metro area's, which was 7.5% in December, the same as the state's but lower than the national rate.
Many Aurora residents live and work in the construction and retail industries, which suffered in the recession, says Gary Horvath, managing director of the Business Research Division at the Leeds School of Business at the University of Colorado.
But Aurora gets some job stability from Buckley Air Force Base and a Raytheon facility. It is also home to the Anschutz Medical Campus, an education, research and patient-care facility. Anschutz is expanding and recently added a biotechnology facility. It is also building a VA Hospital.
•Hot 'hoods. Aurora is not a typical urban environment because it boasts many parks, green spaces, and bicycle and walking trails, Barber says.
The Anschutz expansion is revitalizing nearby neighborhoods because of the many doctors, nurses and support personnel working there.
"There was a lot of foreclosure in those areas, and now because of the impact of the medical center, we are finding people coming in and buying those houses," Barber says. "They are rehabbing them and turning them into very nice homes."
A few years ago, home prices there ranged from $60,000 to $80,000, Barber says, but now reach $120,000. And values likely will continue rising, he says.
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