DELTA, Colo. (KREX) — Delta is home to around 10,000 people, sitting in between Grand Junction and Montrose on the prairie.

Owner of Moore Integrity Real Estate Candace Moore says Delta followed a covid era trend – a huge influx of city-dwellers flocking to Colorado’s smaller communities.

Most residents have houses with decent sized yards and property, and a lot less street noise than big cities.

With a bigger yard comes the option of a home garden, meaning fresh produce from both gardens and local farmers. Delta consists of several local businesses too, like this coffee shop, and let’s not forget it’s historic Drive-In.

But home buyers here don’t just have to worry about a down-payment. Just like Montrose, growing interest rates – currently up to 6.9 percent – have home sales on a downward trend. And renting doesn’t seem to be an easy option either.

Moore tells me there are very few available apartments in Delta.

To measure the decrease in buyers, associate broker Alisa Green puts some numbers behind it. She tells me the second quarter of last year, her company sold 330 houses in the area, and there were 219 sales this quarter of 2023, meaning a 43 percent decrease.

Delta’s average home price sits between $360-420,000.

The average income here is $41,000.