Local housing market strong While the national market suffers

By J.K. Perry

While the national housing market slogs through recent troubles, the Eagle County market continues to chug along unaffected.

“There’s never been a stronger case of apples and oranges,” said Ben Kleimer, president of Kleimer Company Real Estate.

Eagle County is relatively immune to market swings because so many people want to buy homes here and enjoy the recreation, entertainment and culture, he said. But there exists fewer homes than people who want to live in the valley.

“Worldwide appeal has always kept the demand higher than the supply,” Kleimer said.

The national problem came to a head as low interest rates in recent years prompted many people to purchase homes. Some buyers overextended themselves and consequently their homes were foreclosed. Banks got stuck with the loans they issued to the buyers and then couldn’t sell the loans on the secondary market.

The local market did experience a three-week hiccup in September and October as people waited to see if the overburdened banks might go under. The Federal Reserve then bailed out the overextended home buyers by cutting interest rates and, locally, people became more comfortable with the housing market.

“Nothing really changed in that time period other than buyers’ attitudes,” Kleimer said. “The interest rate drop has really meant that it released the fear.”

The market is now focusing on qualified buyers, rather than the riskier first-time home buyer, he said. To entice buyers, banks have lowered interest rates.

“As long as you’re well qualified, it’s actually going to be less expensive to buy a home than it was a month ago,” Kleimer said in mid October.