In the November 2008 issue of Smart Money magazine, Denver is listed as a likely city to rebound from the housing slump. As a real estate practitioner I agree with many of the points made in the article which includes Denver as one of the top 25 cities to rebound.
Denver's ability to rebound depends on job growth and wage growth. As a former human resources professional, I know that employees moving to from other cities have found housing and the cost of living high in Denver, while the wages lag many large cities across the country. My hunch is that many people are still house poor and don't have a lot of disposable income still. If unemployment drops and job growth goes up, that should be a good sign for Denver. With the credit crunch, things may take longer than we think to rebound. But as real estate sales professionals know in Denver....the nice homes sell just fine.
The Smart Money article also says that "close-in neighborhoods are often holding up better than suburbs, because they didn't endure overbuilding and because higher-income owners were less likely to need subprime or adjustable-rate mortgages." This is for the most part true. The trendy inner neighborhoods are doing much, much better although, there are an overabundance of spec homes priced over $1 million in the trendy neighborhoods of Denver so there may be opportunities for buyers there. My last listing was in The Highlands and went under contract in about 1 week.
Generally, we need building to subside a bit until we are sure we have enough people working here to pay for the homes. Building has definitely slowed down, and that's a good sign. Now we need consumer confidence to rebuild so companies will fee comfortable growing their businesses in Denver.
Todd Groth
720.203.9624
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