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BUSINESS
SCOTTSDALE PROGRESS | WWW.SCOTTSDALE.ORG | DECEMBER 19, 2021
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Coldwell Banker exec sees home sales staying strong BY PAUL MARYNIAK Progress Executive Editor
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ooking back at 2021, Realtors might be tempted to paraphrase Charles Dickens: It was the best of times and the craziest of times. Just ask Greg Hollman, the Scottsdalebased president of Coldwell Banker Realty Arizona, a position he has held the last seven of his 25 years in home sales for one of the nation’s largest and oldest full-service residential and commercial real estate brokerage services. As he looks back not just at this year but the Age of COVID, he marvels at how the economic uncertainty of the first couple months gave way to one of the hottest housing markets ever – and one that defies most conventional real estate wisdom by showing no end in sight. “It definitely has been an interesting year,” Hollman said. “When you go back to COVID originally coming on to the news media and not knowing the effects that it would have and how it actually ended up in many ways outliving predictions of doom and gloom and has actually excelled ever since, I think that is a very interesting fact.” And surprising, he added. “I think it took most of us by surprise – not knowing how people would react to a situation during a pandemic,” Hollman said. “But if you think about it in hindsight, it makes sense. “I mean, we’ve had an historically low interest rate. And you had a situation where people were seeking homes that worked better in their current situation – homes where they could work from home. And there were those who wanted to make sure that they weren’t
Greg Hollman waiting longer to achieve their dreams and just decided to pull the trigger and get it done. So, I think it's surprised most everybody.” “I haven’t seen a market like this, certainly, at this kind of sustained clip that we have seen… Just when we think it might be cooling a little bit, the market picks up again.” Fueled by high demand, a historically low inventory and a huge migration of people to Arizona, “it’s just been a very, very strong market this past year,” Hollman said. “A lot of people are looking to move up, a lot of people are looking to move into areas that they desired for a long time but couldn’t do so because of their job location and now they’re able to. And cer-
see COLDWELL page 26
Increased crowds and sales noted at Fashion Square BY ALEX GALLAGHER Progress Staff Writer
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cottsdale Fashion Square is rounding out its holiday season with increased foot traffic and by providing a whimsical holiday experience for shoppers. After scaling back much of last year’s holiday activity and witnessing the bulk of retail shift to online shopping, this year has seen busier stores and high spirits than even before the pandemic. “It’s definitely more festive and busier this year than last year,” said Scotts-
dale Fashion Square’s marketing manager Melanie Sutton. “In comparison to 2019, we are even exceeding those numbers foot traffic wise.” Sutton believes that this is because families are celebrating being able to safely congregate in addition to celebrating the holidays “I think that people are realizing that life is valuable and that it is important to spend as much time as you can with your family and friends,” she said. “People are definitely making the extra step
see FASHIONSQUARE page 25
