Crested Butte Real Estate Market Report YTD October 2015

Crested Butte Real Estate Market Report –

Year to Date through October 31, 2015 – Crested Butte Market Active and Strong

Despite continued volatility in the stock market and a barrel of crude oil in the mid $40 per barrel the Crested Butte Real Estate market continues to be active and the Fall months of September and October have been good ones.

Looking at the highlight numbers we see nearly identical results to 2014 with volume in the $131M range Year to Date and total transactions up a bit at 307 vs. 277 (and likely the difference being the number of lots sold making up the difference 92 YTD 2015 vs 46 for the same period in 2014). The lower end of the Single Family Home market has a lack of inventory is getting thin with 36 single family homes below $750,000 and after removing the 6 under contract and the seasonal homes there remains less than 20 at the North end of the valley that generally appeal to the second-homeowner buyer. There are 21 Townhomes (majority in Mt. Crested Butte) available below $750,000. There are 107 single family homes for sale above $750,000 and 75 of these are luxury homes above $1M.

Crested Butte Luxury Real Estate Market – Properties Sold for $1 Million + Year to Date

There have been 28 properties sold for over $1M YTD – 25 of them have been Single Family Homes, 1 ski-in/out condo at West Wall and 2 riverfront home site at Wilder on the Taylor. The total high-end volume of $44.5M makes up 30% of
the overall market volume YTD but only 9% of the total transactions. The average sold price for the homes was $1.6M; median price $1.33M, and Average Price per sq. ft. was $450. There are 6 luxury single family homes under contract – of note the ski-in/ski-out home in Prospect listed for ($4.5M Asking Price)

Luxury Properties For Sale in the Crested Butte Area

There are a total of 77 Single Family Homes for sale with Asking Prices over

$1M for a total Volume of $148M. Average Asking price is $1.9M, and Median Asking Price of $1.62M. Average price per sq. ft. is $412. Highest priced home is the aforementioned Prospect home with asking price of $4.6M.

High-end Land / Riverfront Home sites For Sale – With all the land that has sold there are still a total of 302 current listings for Land – 10% of those are luxury vacant lots for sale above $1M – these lots are scattered around with the majority located in The Reserve on the East River and Wilder on the Taylor, but there are 6 lots in downtown Crested Butte (1 is Under Contract – a lot in downtown CB on Third Street) , and others on Mt. Crested Butte and outlying areas. There are 18 ski-in / ski-out, or skier access lots for sale in the Prospect development in Mt. Crested Butte and all are below $1M (only 3 are below $500,000). There are also some nice 35 acre lots in Trappers Crossing and one opportunity to own a contiguous 70 acres with panoramic views, and a Trappers Crossing home site on the bench with an asking price of $1.5M.

Price per Sq. Ft. Averages

Single Family (SF) homes – Unlike suburban USA where there are many subdivisions with very similar homes all built nearly the same time with similar layouts, finishes… In the Crested Butte area every home is custom built and different so comparing home values can be hard. Price per sq. ft. is one way to provide a metric to use to compare “similar” homes and as a general rule it provides a way to compare and historically it gives us a perspective over a large number of transactions. So far in 2015 we have seen a slight price per sq. ft. increase in single family homes (again this is subject to the mix of what is sold). Current Price Per Sq. Ft. Averages are at $331 per sq. ft. Looking at the details in the tables you will see these prices per sq. ft. vary based on the area – as example Downtown Crested Butte shows $436, Mt. Crested Butte $344, Skyland $316, and CB South $222 averages per sq. ft.

Condos and Townhomes The 2015 YTD Average price per sq. ft. of $231 is a slight decrease when compared to the same period in 2013 ($233 per sq. ft.).

What Real Estate is Selling in the Crested Butte area? Condos and Townhomes represents the most transactions (121 compared with 143 same period in 2014), with Single Family homes transactions at 94 and 88 in 2014. There have been 25 Luxury Single Family Homes Sold for over $1M represents 30% of the dollar volume in our market, and Land or Lots represent 30%.

Under Contract: 74 properties Under Contract, 41 are Condos/Townhomes, 18 are Single Family homes and 15 are lots. At the end of October these 74 properties Under Contract represent a total volume of $35.2M compared with $16.7M in 2014.

Active Listings There are 645 properties For Sale in our market (compared with 651 in 2014) representing over $440M. This is a decrease in local inventory, and still some great values available in the market.

I had the opportunity to again join the top Coldwell Banker Previews agents in Vail Colorado for a two day conference focused on the luxury segments of the market. As usual there were some great and informative speakers and topics regarding industry trends, customer satisfaction, and technology changes. This is a great time for me to gather with other agents from around the state and discuss their markets and things they seeing. The majority of the metro residential markets on the front range in Colorado have seen a return to the peak prices and a lack of inventory. The other mountain towns saw strong summer activity and are seeing gradual price increases. Crested Butte typically lags other mountain towns like Vail and Aspen and so if national and world economic variables stay constant I would expect we would see a rise in pricing at some point in Crested Butte as well.

We toured three homes in Vail – the least expensive was over $1,000 per sq. ft. and this was considered a great value – all were above $12M. We have great values in Crested Butte real estate and many options for the buyer – and we are still the last great Colorado ski town. Bring on the Snow!

I encourage you to consider making a year end donation to the capital campaigns of the Biery-Witt Center and the Center for the Arts (as I have). Both be great facilities and amenities that we will all enjoy for decades to come.