Colorado has made significant strides in reducing its housing shortfall since the pandemic, but that gap could widen again if construction activity continues to slow and housing costs don’t find a way to align more closely with incomes.

The state had a shortfall of 106,000 homes and apartments in 2023, the most recent year available, and needs to build at least 34,100 housing units a year, not counting vacation homes, over the next 10 years to keep up with slower population growth, according to a research brief from the State Demography Office .

That’s a notable improvement from the state’s shortfall of 140,000 homes and apartments in 2019, right before a sharp drop in interest rates during the COVID-19 pandemic unleashed a surge in construction. When the Federal Reserve started to lif

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