Despite struggling economy, Denver still attracts business

DENVER - An new economic summary says Denver and the surrounding metro area's solid reputation as a great place to live means the business and economic climate will be on the rebound sooner than most locales across the nation.



The summary data was compiled for August earlier this week by the Metro Denver Economic Corporation (Metro Denver EDC).

"We are continuing to report a better-than-average outlook for Metro Denver's economy," Tom Clark said, executive vice president of the Metro Denver EDC. "We have done a much better job at diversification of our economy in sectors on the cutting edge for long term growth."

Clark told 9NEWS Colorado is a leader in the growing areas of Internet technology, aerospace and alternative energy.

"It's the ongoing development in these areas that will provide a sustained recovery for the Denver metro area," he said.

Recovery is still going to have significant hurdles to overcome, with high numbers of unemployment in the state and additional layoffs occurring across all economic sectors, but the Metro EDC is optimistic.

"Those are still challenges, under TARP (Troubled Assets Relief Program) it's been more difficult for banks to be able to lend to real estate projects," Clark said. "And most of us as consumers are still kind of waiting and watching before we make those purchases in large durable goods; obviously 'Cash to Clunkers' is a little bright spot in the (past year)."

Clark says the main reason the state will be among the first to recover is because people want to be in Colorado.

"Companies move to great places with great people, and Colorado has both of those, and Metro Denver does particularly," he said. "I think back to the 1980's when we were high in national rankings, like the second-most polluted metropolitan area in the country, the third-most congested, we made some great strides here in the last couple of decades."

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Forbes: Denver 7th best for housing recovery

Denver home sales activity is up 1.5 percent year over year, and foreclosure resales account for less than a quarter of transactions, Forbes noted.

Colorado Springs fared even better, ranking as the third-best city for a recovery. Sales activity in the Springs is up 14 percent year over year, and foreclosure resales account for only 20 percent of those sales, Forbes said.

In compiling the list, Forbes looked at 161 of the country's largest metropolitan areas. It identified those where sales activity had picked up over the last year, but where foreclosure sales, as a percentage of overall sales were the lowest. All data came from Zillow.com, an online housing data firm based in Seattle.

"Our list doesn't profess to call the turnaround, but rather point out which cities are in the lead on the road to recovery," Forbes' Matthew Woolsey wrote.

Topping the list was the Miami-Fort Lauderdale area, where sales activity is up 27 percent and foreclosure resales account for 3.5 percent of transactions.

Rounding out the top 10 are, in order: Lincoln, Neb.; Colorado Springs; Salem, Ore.; San Luis Obispo, Calif.; Bremerton, Wash.; Denver; Redding, Calif.; Santa Barbara, Calif.; and San Jose, Calif.


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