By Michael AbeytaMarch 21, 2020 at 11:59 pm
DENVER (CBS4) – As the coronavirus continues to spread in Colorado, several industries have taken a heavy beating, except at least one. You might think house showings might have slowed down with social distancing, but one realtor says the Denver market is as hot as it ever was.
“We’ve got 30 showings today alone. I think we had four or five yesterday on a no show day,” said Lori Abbey with Compass Real Estate in Colorado.
Abbey put the house in Denver’s City Park neighborhood on the market Thursday, but that won’t last long.
“We already have two offers in hand and I’ve been getting calls and texts the entire day,” she said.
With fears of an economic slowdown you would expect that people might hold off on buying a house. Abbey says in the past two weeks, since the first case of COVID-19 was discovered in Colorado she hasn’t seen that happening.
“It’s exactly what I would have expected three or four weeks ago.”
With so many people losing their jobs and the stock market tanking the question is: will it stay that way? While it’s too early to tell, Abbey says anecdotally shifts in the economy have historically had just a small impact on the Denver housing market.
“Denver is a growing city and we have a limited supply of land and of inventory.”
She says while prices will likely continue to go up long term, affordability hasn’t really increased that much because of low interest rates and probably won’t in the future. So if you are selling right now, you need to make sure your house is the best on the market.
If you are buying, a lot depends on your situation.
“For people that have had a hard time getting a house over the last three-six months, because they are maybe not the ideal loan type or they are in an income bracket where it’s been a bit harder, I think for those buyers now is really good time to go out. The people that I’ve told to sit back and wait this out are those whose jobs may be jeopardized by all of this,” said Abbey.
She says if you are buying right now be sure you can see yourself staying there for two to three years.