Now though, Nichols continues, “what I saw a lot of this summer were friends and family members of people who’d moved here during Covid, who visited and were surprised by what they found.”
These weren’t necessarily people desperate for a lifestyle change, she says. They were just people who, with the flexibility of remote work and the liquidity of a few very profitable years, suddenly decided that Aspen was a viable place to spend time.
“The buyer pool,” she says, has “just gotten deeper and broader.”
A Shift in Priorities
The only thing that’s changed, brokers say, is that some buyers are looking further afield.
“There’s been a slight shift to people looking for more open space,” says Shane. “In the past, demand was weighted very much to the central core, the West End, and Red Mountain. Now there’s a slight move to the surrounding areas, which provide more acreage, open space, and privacy.”
This was a boon to the large estates and ranches that before Covid had sat on the market.
“It was very hard to sell a significant property 20 minutes from downtown. It would be on the market for at least two years,” says Nichols.
A year later, “I do sense people are now OK with living a little more densely,” she says, meaning the market could be slowly moving back.
Still, brokers caution againbst reading too much into recent trends.
People can only buy what’s for sale, and “with inventory down,” Banner says, “there just aren’t as many choices.”
This article was provided by Bloomberg News.