A growing retirement-age population across the Western Slope will be an important economic and real estate market driver in the coming years.

Retiring baby boomers “tend to hang out in one place and spend money ... and will maybe even continue working” in some capacity, Colorado State demographer Elizabeth Garner said at the Mountain Real Estate Summit Friday in Snowmass Village.

The region must find ways to attract and keep the younger demographic that will fill jobs to meet the demands of an aging population, Garner said.

But some West Slope counties will need to overcome low wages, high unemployment rates and under-employment among younger workers, to compete for the “best and brightest” in that demographic, she said.

“These factors will have long-term, permanent impacts on earning, and can have a serious impact on the economy,” Garner said.

In Garfield County, according to the State Demographer’s Office figures for 2013, more than half the households spend greater than 30 percent of their income on housing – an indication that wages and housing costs are out of whack.

“Housing affordability and availability is one of challenges we face, but it’s something I know everyone can rise up and address,” Garner said before the gathering of mostly commercial real estate professionals from the region.

“We need to be looking at creative solutions to address these challenges we have today,” she said.

Glenwood Realtor Scott Dillard of the Fleisher Co.,, who moderated the “Economic Drivers for Development” discussion on Friday, said real estate agents need to be aware that location rather than jobs is a driving motivator for young people.

The summit was sponsored by the Rocky Mountain Commercial Brokers in partnership with the University of Denver’s Burns School of Real Estate and Construction Management and Daniels College of Business.

Real estate is in a growth phase throughout Colorado, and that growth can expected to continue for a few more years before peaking in 2019, predicted Glenn Mueller, a real estate investment strategist at DU.

One challenge for the real estate development industry to try to address some of the aforementioned issues is that debt financing is still hard to find, he said.

Mueller also noted that the average age for first-time home buyers in the U.S. has risen back to 36 in recent years, after dropping to 32 during the mid-2000s when sub-prime loans were readily available.

Creating housing that appeals to the younger set could also bring changes to the real estate market, Garner said during her presentation.

“The household type and size is tighter,” she said, pointing to statistics that suggest younger buyers want smaller houses.

At the same time, boomers who have provided a strong market for second homes are also downsizing. And, there are fewer people in the 45-65 age group to replace them, Garner said.

Steve Beckley, owner and founder of the Glenwood Caverns Adventure Park and the new Iron Mountain Hot Springs, called the local market “bullish” and said now is the time to buy real estate in Glenwood Springs.

“Glenwood Springs right now is on the cusp of becoming a really great place to be,” Beckley, speaking on the Economic Drivers for Development panel, said.