As the U.S. Space Command prepares to relocate to Huntsville, Alabama, real estate professionals and city leaders in Colorado Springs are assessing the potential ripple effects on the local housing market and community.

Patrick Muldoon of Muldoon Associates Inc. in Colorado Springs said limited information has been released since the move was announced in September.

Various sources have suggested that 1,000 jobs may shift to Alabama, but speculation is rife.

“We are being told that even out of those 1,000 jobs, most [of the workers] actually will not move. Due to the fact we remain one of the larger military and tech defense cities, they are likely to get new jobs locally," Muldoon said.

Officials say the move will take about three years.

“There's a lot of speculation on how many people will be moving throughout the three years,” Muldoon said.

Max D’Onofrio, a spokesperson for the city, said officials were disappointed by the decision.

“U.S. Space Command reached full operational capability here in 2023 because of the unmatched expertise, infrastructure and partnerships that already exist in our community,” D’Onofrio said. “That depth of experience cannot easily be replicated elsewhere, and uprooting the command risks mission success and wastes billions in taxpayer dollars.”

He said the news didn't come as a surprise to city officials.

“This relocation had been signaled as a priority of the current administration, and from the beginning, the city has worked closely with its congressional delegation, state leadership and military partners to make the case that keeping Space Command in Colorado Springs best serves national security, military readiness and the American taxpayer,” he said.

D’Onofrio said the city is working with relevant agencies.

“Since the announcement, city officials have been in active communication with Colorado’s congressional delegation as well as with state and military partners,” he said. “The city continues to prepare for the future by strengthening Colorado Springs’ role as a global hub for aerospace, defense and innovation.”

This isn't the first time the White House has proposed relocating Space Command.

“As a city, we went through this last time [in 2019–2020], only to find out then we had an election, and the next president decided it was going to stay,” Muldoon said.

D’Onofrio said the biggest difference between then and now is that the base is now fully operational.

“The command is no longer theoretical; it is functioning, performing and integrated into the national defense infrastructure,” he said. “Relocating it at this stage would be far more disruptive and costly than it was six years ago.”

Muldoon noted that the housing market looked very different during the previous relocation attempt.

Data he compiled from the local Multiple Listing Service shows that in 2019, the median sales price for a single-family home in Colorado Springs was $329,000, with homes spending a median of 20 days on the market before they sell. That year, 30,070 homes were listed, with about 2,506 for sale on average each month.

By 2020, the median sales price had risen to $365,000; homes sold in half that time (10 days), the total number of homes listed dropped to 23,459, and 1,955 were on the market, on average, each month.

This year, prices are higher, there are more listings, and homes are spending longer on the market before they sell.

According to the Colorado Association of Realtors, the median sales price for single-family homes in July was a whopping $574,276. Single-family homes spent an average of 39 days on the market, with 4,227 active listings.

“So, more inventory coming to the market will affect what's going on in our local market area, where I feel like last time we would have absorbed that quickly,” Muldoon said. “We were begging for new inventory. Today's story in Colorado Springs is considerably different.”

“I think for the city as a whole, I would love to know how many jobs are leaving at what time,” Muldoon said, “because there is a big difference if we have a hundred listings coming to the market today, or do we have the whole group leaving at the front end?”

It would also be helpful, he said, to know how many troops rented versus purchased homes and will need to sell due to the move.

Michael Kenney of Better Homes & Gardens Real Estate – Kenney & Co. agreed that many affected personnel may choose to rent their homes.

“The people that are given orders to move, depending on when they bought [their house], the rates are higher,” Kenney said. “So, the supply side is still lacking in some sectors, but it's increased from what it was during and post-COVID. What'll end up happening is, I think we'll see a lot of those folks end up renting their houses out because they've got low interest rates on them.”

Kenney, a resident of Colorado Springs for 25 years, said he doesn’t expect much impact beyond the rental market and job market, which could indirectly affect housing.

In his State of the City address on Sept. 25, Colorado Springs Mayor Yemi Mobolade said the loss of Space Command is not as significant as it may seem.

“What we are losing is largely symbolic,” Mobolade said. “What matters most is that the opportunities remain right here.”

He emphasized Colorado Springs’ continued strategic importance in national defense and space operations, citing recent expansions by defense firms and the presence of key military commands and facilities.

“While economic uncertainty persists, Colorado Springs is not just weathering the storm,” Mobolade said. “We are building momentum — shaping a future defined by growth, resilience, opportunity, innovation and business support.”

Muldoon said the market will adjust, as it always does.

“We don't really control the markets. We don't control the interest rates, we don't control the people and we don't control the military,” he said. “The few things that we can control, we'll just continue to do good business.”