(COLORADO SPRINGS) — According to the Pikes Peak Regional Building Department, numbers for building homes within the last year is falling, and real estate agents said fewer people are buying homes compared to the last few years, but broker and owner of Remax Properties, Joe Clement took a deeper dive into the numbers.
“There’s a lot of misconceptions,” Clement said.
He added the housing industry saw a boom a few years ago.
“The numbers were off the charts. Multiple offers and all the craziness that we were dealing with.”
Almost three years ago, the COVID-19 pandemic was just getting started.
“If you look at where the interest rate was, and then where it was just a month or two after that, I remember May 2020. [Then] all of a sudden it was [at] 3.1.”
Clement said suddenly people began coming out of the woodwork.
“My heart went out to the first-time buyers trying to get a house,” he said. “You keep making offers and they come in third and come in second and not get the house.”
Now, the number of houses showings per week have seen a decline.
“Back in September [there] were 3,000 a week. It’s gone down to 2,800 or 2,700.”
While it’s gone down, Clement argued the housing market is returning the normalcy, with 2,250 showings the week of Christmas.
“There’s people that need homes, people that want homes. Otherwise, why would they be out in 30-degree weather looking at a house Christmas week?”
Even though interest rates climbed back up to around six percent, Clement said it’s still a buyer’s market.
“It’s really an okay market. It’s really fun. We’re okay. We’re going to make it. We’re going to have a good year, really. And we’re hoping the rate does come down again for those first-time buyers to be able to get in.”
