DENVER-- Downtown Denver used to be so full of life before the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Downtown is kinda silent, and it's kind of a 180 from last year,” Denver High-Rise Living founder Lori Greenly said.
The downtown real estate market has suffered.
Carolina Cadena just moved from New York, and is looking to buy a condo now.
“I'm putting an offer in today. Hopefully it gets accepted. If not, I'll keep looking,” Cadena said.
But like many, she's not looking downtown.
“People are looking for single-family homes and townhomes. They’re moving out of downtown and the condos,” Keller Williams Downtown broker Megan Kemp said.
Kemp works with a lot of buyers and has seen this trend.
“COVID has really impacted condos in the central business district and people who wanna move downtown,” she said.
Brokers who specialize in condos say it's a trend in the district, not the condo market as a whole.
“But August, year-over-year from last year, the condo market prices are up 2% and our sales are up 9%. So, I think it’s a pretty healthy market,” Keller Williams Cherry Creek owner and broker Karina Christensen said.
That's city-wide. Inventory downtown is up about 50% from last year and currently a number of price reductions.
“I’m tracking these price reductions in 80202 right now, because there's some pretty sweet deals,” Greenly said.
It was thriving right before the pandemic created shutdowns, increased homelessness and people working from home.
“We need to bring people back to downtown Denver. We need to show the suburbs Denver is good,” Greenly said.
New developments are still going up. Things will open again.
“There's a demand for it. And the fact the demand is down is what we're looking at. And it's just a pause,” Greenly said.
And those who sell downtown believe it will come back.
