Impacts on Prices from high inventory

We are so lucky in the Vail Valley to have an economy that is based on scarcity of housing because of zoning restrictions and lack of buildable land. That being said, we have seen some tremendous 'run ups' in pricing in the past three years. If we did not have real estate 'cycles' no one would be able to afford a home here. But we are no different from any other resort town in the country. Prices have a way of evening out when there is a recession or other type of economic problem in the rest of the US economy.

Today we are faced with an ever enlarging inventory of housing mainly because of the national 'credit crisis'. There are customers out there who want to buy but can no longer come up with the downpayments required by the new guidelines of banks in this environment. Back in the late 80's, many Savings and Loans went out of business because of loose lending practices and today we see some similarities. However the bankers are smarter today and have cracked on low down payment loans. The result is that many a Seller does not have as many Buyers executing contracts because they can't get loans.