TerraVue / Markets / Colorado Springs, CO
Over the past 20 years, Colorado Springs home prices have risen 4.05% a year; over the past three, 0.93%. TerraVue's forward estimate, which weights both, is 2.81%. That is 1.21pp below the national average, which matters more the longer you hold.
Appreciation is only one side of the buy-vs-rent question, but it's the side people guess at most badly. At the forward estimate of 2.81% a year, a home in Colorado Springs would gain roughly 32% in value over a decade — before any of the costs that actually decide the question: closing costs, maintenance, property tax, the mortgage interest you'd pay, and what your down payment would have earned invested instead.
Worth being explicit about what that estimate is: it blends the 20-year record (4.05%) with the last three years (0.93%), so a market in a sharp recent run-up or correction lands between the two rather than at either extreme. It is an estimate, not a forecast anyone can guarantee — which is exactly why TerraVue simulates a range of outcomes instead of quoting one number.
Rent is the other side. At a median of $1,622, the yearly rent bill in Colorado Springs is about $19,464. Whether buying beats that depends almost entirely on the price you'd pay and how long you'd stay — which is what the simulator is for.
This page describes the Colorado Springs market as a whole. Whether buying beats renting depends on the price you'd pay, your down payment, and how long you'd stay — TerraVue simulates about 1,000 market scenarios on those inputs and returns the probability, not a single guessed number. It'll start with 80918's real appreciation and rent already loaded.
Analyze a property free →Averages hide a lot. Across Colorado Springs's 19 ZIP codes, long-run appreciation ranges from 1.26% to 4.66% a year — a spread of 3.4 percentage points. Over a 10-year hold, that difference compounds into a substantially different outcome for two buyers in the same city.
| ZIP | Appreciation/yr | Recent 3yr | Rent | Bachelor's+ |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 80924 | 4.66% | 4.66% | $1,876 | 68% |
| 80905 | 3.14% | 1.20% | $1,434 | 39% |
| 80919 | 3.12% | 1.74% | $1,596 | 60% |
| 80904 | 3.10% | 1.08% | $1,493 | 44% |
| 80921 | 3.09% | 1.96% | $1,850 | 64% |
| 80910 | 3.03% | 0.56% | $1,491 | 22% |
| 80916 | 2.94% | 0.34% | $1,526 | 19% |
| 80925 | 2.93% | 1.42% | $2,426 | 39% |
| 80918 | 2.85% | 0.87% | $1,548 | 37% |
| 80917 | 2.79% | 0.72% | $1,230 | 34% |
| 80903 | 2.78% | 0.52% | $1,702 | 41% |
| 80907 | 2.78% | 0.70% | $1,601 | 37% |
| 80831 | 2.77% | 1.25% | $2,610 | 40% |
| 80909 | 2.66% | 0.53% | $1,216 | 29% |
| 80906 | 2.64% | 1.33% | $1,622 | 48% |
| 80923 | 2.39% | 0.52% | $1,983 | 46% |
| 80920 | 2.38% | 0.47% | $1,956 | 54% |
| 80922 | 2.23% | -0.10% | $2,056 | 41% |
| 80951 | 1.26% | -1.90% | $2,423 | 40% |
Sorted by long-run blended appreciation. Green is at least 0.5pp above the national average, red at least 0.5pp below; smaller gaps are left neutral. ZIPs shown as links have their own detail page.
Appreciation comes from the FHFA House Price Index — a repeat-sales index that tracks the same homes over time, which is why it isn't distorted by a change in the mix of what sold in a given year. TerraVue reads it at the ZIP level, back to 1975 where coverage allows.
The forward estimate blends 60% of the longest available look-back (20 years where available) with 40% of the most recent 3 years. Long-run history is the more reliable signal, but a market that has genuinely changed pace should not be ignored — the 60/40 split is the compromise, and it's the same figure TerraVue's simulation uses.
The national comparison is the population-weighted average of these same blended ZIP-level figures, so it compares like with like.
It depends on the price of the specific home and how long you'd stay. What the data settles is the market backdrop: over the past 20 years Colorado Springs, CO home prices have risen about 4.05% a year, and TerraVue's forward estimate is 2.81% — below the national average of 4.02% — against a median rent near $1,622. TerraVue runs about 1,000 scenarios on a specific price to return the probability that buying beats renting, plus the breakeven year.
Over the past 20 years, about 4.05% a year; over the past three, 0.93%. TerraVue's forward estimate blends the two at 2.81%. All of it comes from FHFA repeat-sales data across 19 ZIP codes, and individual ZIPs range from 1.26% to 4.66% on that same forward basis.
80924 at 4.66% a year, versus 80951 at 1.26% — a spread of about 3.4 percentage points a year within the same city.
Around $1,622 — the median across the city's ZIP codes, from the Zillow Observed Rent Index (all homes).