RV sales starting to pick up following recent slowdown in the market

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KRDO)-- RV sales and demand have slowed in recent months due to inflation and elevated rates.

Inflation made many Americans reassess their budgets and pull back on big-ticket items. Rising interest rates also increased the cost of financing large purchases.

According to the Wall Street Journal, this is following the surge in demand from 2020 through most of 2022 as many Americans bought their first RV and hit the road for travel during the pandemic.

"Obviously the economy has changed, interest rates being up from what they were a couple years ago," Cousins RV President Jim Humble said. "I think for our business it's stabilized. Certainly during the Covid period there was a huge influx in sales, interest rates were super low. What we're seeing today is kind of what we saw in 2018-2019."

However, with summer around the corner, sellers are hoping things pick up. At an RV show this weekend in Colorado Springs, RV company managers say sales are starting to pick up as spring begins.

"It depends on the market," Cousins RV GM Ty Austin said. "Obviously interest rates are up a slight bit and everybody's coming to clarification with that and understanding that. The market is still moving forward. Luckily we're going into summer and not winter. So we're seeing sales pick up around the country."

Dale Archer has been looking for a new RV and says prices are going down.

"They're going down. There's a lot of RVs out there. Everybody was buying them during covid but now they're all over the place. There's good deals too, timing's right financially."

The free RV show goes from 10-7 p.m. Saturday at the Colorado Springs Event Center for anyone wanting to check out what's on the market right now with many options of different makes, models, and budgets.