The median price of a home in Colorado has shot up 132% since 2010 while median household income in our state has risen by less than half that — only about 65% — in the same period. The data, courtesy of a policy update released this week by Colorado’s Common Sense Institute, offers another sobering reminder that housing is becoming less affordable.

Noting a “growing disparity” between the cost of housing and consumers’ ability to pay for it, the Common Sense update points out, “more Coloradans are struggling to afford homes, with the affordability gap growing from 46.8% in 2010 to 60.2% in 2022.”

Some factors that have helped drive the cost of housing into the stratosphere are arguably inevitable, like surging demand from a wave of migration to our state over the past decade-plus.

Another key factor behind the cost spiral, however, was avoidable — bad public policy.

Notably, our state’s liability laws covering homebuilders have stymied the construction of modestly priced, entry-level condominium housing in our state for years.

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Condos used to offer a path to homeownership for a range of consumers, from first-time buyers to seniors on a fixed income. But permissive laws enabled runaway litigation over routine flaws in newly built condos. Condos have been a lucrative target for plaintiffs’ attorneys because one lawsuit involving multiple units — even if only a few of them had flaws — yields bigger damages awards and out-of-court settlements than for single-family dwellings.

Homebuilders’ liability insurance premiums have soared as a result, curbing condo construction as builders turned to pricier single-family homes as a less risky investment.

As Common Sense observed in a press statement accompanying the data, “Despite more households being able to afford higher-priced homes, the market is oversupplying these expensive properties, making it harder for lower-income households to find affordable housing.”

Our state’s lawmakers had an opportunity to put a big dent in the problem during the spring 2024 legislative session — but blew it.

Bipartisan legislation that had wide-ranging support, including from the Governor’s Office, would have taken meaningful steps to ease the liability chokehold on building condos. It would have steered potential litigants away from court by offering more reasonable, practical and less costly alternatives for fixing construction flaws.

Among other provisions, the bill would have required the support and written consent of at least 60% of the members in a condo development’s homeowners association before a lawsuit over defects could proceed. And it would have required the finding of a verifiable danger to the occupants or an actual failure of a building component to sustain a claim in court.

All parties would have been satisfied — except for Colorado’s trial lawyers. They would have been deprived of a big payday. So, the trial lawyers’ lobby converged on the Capitol to call in markers among ruling Democrats. The lawmakers caved.

The trial lawyers’ formidable lobby has in fact blocked meaningful reform one legislative session after another at the Capitol. The lobby is especially close to the Democrats in charge of both legislative chambers and wield a lot of clout.

As a result, many would-be homeowners of modest means will have to put off the proverbial American dream of homeownership — a grim reality that ought to shame lawmakers into revisiting the issue and, for a change, not chickening out.

Here’s hoping dissenting Democrats can join with minority Republicans and Democratic Gov. Jared Polis next session and push back at the trial lawyers — to the benefit of future homeowners.

Colorado Springs Gazette Editorial Board