In late 2021, a wildfire tore through the Boulder suburbs and destroyed nearly 1,100 homes.
Roughly 10 months after that blaze, known as the Marshall Fire, the vast majority of the burned lots remain vacant.
"Open space with the ability to build what you want — that really doesn't exist in Boulder County," Jennifer Eiss, a Boulder real-estate agent with Compass, said.
The median sale price for Marshall Fire lots that sold in the third quarter was $416,000, according to MLS data.
Newer, more-sustainable building methods, combined with an emphasis on protective borders around homes, could help mitigate fire risks, Pechet said.