Flooding taking toll on tight market

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The torrential rains that damaged or destroyed close to 20,000 homes will have a profound impact on the Front Range housing and rental markets.

“No. 1, this is not just going to effect our market for the next few weeks or a month, but this will have an impact for six months or a year from now,” said Chris Mygatt, president of Coldwell BankerResidential Brokerage in Colorado.

Some people, after dealing with their home insurance companies and the government, will decide to rebuild.

“We don’t have a handle yet on how many people will want to remain a homeowner at that location; that is something we still need to quantify,” he said.

Some may want to remain homeowners, but not at their current locations, he said.

“Existing homes available along the Front Range will become more available, because there will be fewer homes,” he added.

Rebuilding won’t be easy.

Even before the flooding, new home builders already were struggling to find construction workers.

“Now, homebuilders and people who lost their homes will be competing with each other for workers,” Mygatt said. “That is going to mean a lot of new construction jobs available, which will be good for the economy.

“That is maybe one silver lining to this terrible tragedy.”

Also, almost everyone displaced will need some kind of short-term to long-term housing, even if they plan to move back to their exiting home. One woman in Lyons, who was evacuated, for example, said she may not be able to return to her home for a year, even though it escaped any major damage.

“That is going to put a lot of pressure on an already tight apartment rentalmarket,” Mygatt said. InsiderRealEstateNews.com