COLORADO SPRINGS — New home numbers in the Pike’s Peak region saw a sharp increase in 2020, not showing any sign of slowing because of the pandemic.
The Pike’s Peak Regional Building Department reported it processed 27% more new home permits in 2020 than 2019.
“That was just a huge gain, when you start talking a 27% increase over the year before,” PPRBD spokesperson Greg Dingrando said.
He said in total, the department issued permits for 5,068 new homes in 2020.
“We have so many people moving here,” He said. “And then we have our existing residents in the area--they want a new home.”
That’s the case for Mario Keophilalay.
“When I was younger, I always knew I wanted to buy a house,” Keophilalay said.
Crews broke ground on his family’s new house in the Wolf Ranch neighborhood a few months after he signed on the dotted line last June.
“We wanted a corner lot for sure, and there was no better time than summer of last year,” he said.
No better time, than the middle of a pandemic.
“I think it pushed me more to do it,” Keophilalay said.
2020 turned a lot of factors in his favor.
“When I first bought my first home in 2017, the rate that I got it for was 3.275%, and a lot of people said that was high,” he said. "But when I got this one they said 2.3%.”
And already, his yet to be finished home has gained equity.
“The people from Keller Homes said, since lumber got more expensive, by the time we move in, we might be sitting on 20 grand already,” he said.
If you look at the big picture the record growth, in spite of the pandemic, makes sense.
“I think… I think it just goes back to the demand,” Dingrando said.
When a city is growing as fast as this one, it’ll take more than a pandemic to slow that down.
“There’s a lack of housing in the Pike’s Peak region, and it just shows that the demand is high and people are gonna need homes,” he said.
