Mile High City got a big bounce from its national audience during DNC
By Mark Samuelson
The limos and busses have departed, the private jets are plowing the skies back to L.A. and Chicago, and commentators and bloggers are all over the map as to who came out well and by how much. But there’s little doubt about how Denver did this week. It won big.
Larimer Square, three blocks from the Pepsi Center
While 40,000-plus convention visitors were taking in the café scene and nice weather on the Mall, the Case-Shiller Home Price Index issued by Standard & Poor’s arrived showing the Mile-High City leading the entire nation in home appreciation–up 1.5% May to June–the only major market, save for Boston, headed upward.
“The reason we’re having success is that the downward trend in inventory is already affecting prices,” Jack O’Connor, managing broker at Prestige Real Estate Group, told me. O’Connor, who authors a widely read report, is predicting price increases for 2009, particularly in the under-$300,000 range where listings are disappearing fastest.
“The Case-Shiller report is really good news,” added Buz Koelbel, president of Koelbel and Company. “It reaffirms that unlike other parts of country, we’ve maintained a rational, stable market in tough times.”
Koelbel told me that the impressions we made on all of those visitors will echo back in coming months. “Anytime you put that many eyes and ears experiencing this special place, we’re always going to win on esthetics and quality of life.”
Steve Shraiberg, whose DTC-based Urban Esprit builds along the I-25 corridor as well as in other markets, says builders are already experiencing one sign of confidence–more buyer traffic. “We’re seeing people here more optimistic,” he said. “They’re waiting for positive signs, and the attention brought by the convention has been positive.”
Shraiberg and other builders are waiting to see whether that mood translates into sales…but having a good impression out there, most feel, is a big plus. “The thing that’s great for Denver is that we get to give this gift to the country,” said Joe Blake, Denver Metro Chamber of Commerce President and CEO. “It’s about all of these people who came here for first time, and who then come back.”
Don’t expect rising prices right away, particularly in the higher ranges, Prestige’s O’Connor cautions. “It takes time for a trend to work its way through the entire range of inventory.”
Tags: Buz Koelbel, Democrat, Democratic National Convention, DNC, Joe Blake, Obama, real estate market, recovery, Republican
