Forbes Magazine: Latest to pronounce Denver as "number one."
Where would you like to live? For many years independent surveys have asked that question and it seems like the answer was always somewhere on the coast. Seattle or San Diego were most often mentioned. Now, Shangri-La has moved inland.
Two more independent surveys have now ranked Denver the most desirable city in America. Maybe that’s why in the midst of this recession, the Denver real estate market has held up better than most and is even showing signs of recovery. The latest to surveys show that most Americans would rather live in Denver than any other place in the United States. As a Realtor working in Denver since 1978, I’ve often extol the virtues of our city. Our climate is much more mild than most people believe it is. We have all the big-city amenities like all five major league sporting teams, arts and fear, five-star dining and those purple mountain majesties just minutes from downtown. Most of our clients who move here are amazed that our public school system is so good. Of all the many clients that I’ve moved here from other cities across America, only one family liked their previous city better than living in Denver. That’s quite a testimony!
So, of course, Realtors working in Denver love it here. You would expect that. But it’s really amazing when two independent surveys this year have found that most Americans now desire to live in Denver and more than any other city. A study by the Pew Research Center and Forbes magazine have confirmed what I’ve been saying for years: “you are very lucky if you get to move to Denver”.
The most recent survey by Forbes magazine was just released. It ranks the best cities in which to buy a home. Denver real estate ranked number one. It was followed by Phoenix, Boston, San Diego and Los Angeles.
“Denver tops the list,” Forbes said. “It had 25 percent of its property sales occur within approximately 25 percent of the city’s ZIP codes. This means sales in various parts of the city were fairly evenly distributed, showing proportionate activity. The further a city deviates from the 25 percent mark, the less evenly distributed the market is in that city, and thus the lower that city ranks.”
The magazine noted that the price per square foot in Denver actually increased 5.7% during a period this year. It also noted that the drop in the number of transactions has declined year over year suggesting that Denver has in fact reached the bottom of the market swing. Lon Welsh did a fabulous job of describing the real estate bottoming process that in his post on this blog.
“Denver scores very well in terms of being able to bring people into a stable housing market,” according Moody’s economist Christopher Cornell as quoted.. “It has better growth potential than most cities today.”
PEW Reseach Center's chart of what is desirable in a city.
The economist also noted that the Denver economy has been stable. This is because the two leading components of the economy are energy and technology. He said that it’s unlikely that there would be a decline in both these industry simultaneously. In fact, the Denver economy continues to grow at a higher rate than that of the rest of the nation. And, more people are moving into Denver than moving out.
The Pew Research Center found earlier that 43% of Americans aspire to live in our Mile High City. The survey was taken among 2260 people by telephone. Interestingly, 30% say they would most like to live in a small town, 25% in a suburb, 23% in a city and 21% in a rural area. Guess what? Denver has communities offering all four different lifestyles within 45 minutes of downtown.
These surveys confirm what I have been saying for years: “If you get to move to Denver, you are lucky!”
One Comment
I can definitely see why. I recently drove through the Denver area while vacationing. It was absolutely breathtaking!