Momentum to the Market in Crested Butte

View 2013 Issue #1 Online

Greetings from Crested Butte, Colorado

The snow has been falling in Crested Butte and the resort is skiing great! Considering the drought Colorado is currently living with, the ski trails at CBMR enjoy good coverage and consistent quality. The 50km of nordic ski trails around town are fantastic right now and our backcountry skiing and snowmobiling are living up to a reputation for fun and excitement. It’s not too late to book a trip into Crested Butte for March. VisitSkiCB.com for current travel and lodging deals.

$100 Million Real Estate Market in Crested Butte

The Crested Butte real estate economy is gaining momentum. If you do an 8-year market look back, its safe to say its been a very wild ride, particularly if you focus on the impact of the mid-2004 acquisition of the ski resort by Tim and Diane Mueller. That lone event triggered $1 billion worth of Crested Butte real estate investment in 4 short years. We’re not anywhere near those pre-2008 sales levels but the local market has seen notable and consistent improvement over the last 18-20 months. Since mid-2011, the number of sales, the $ volume and average sold prices are all trending up, helped by a sharp increase in sales activity from Q4, 2012 to present.

During 2012, we realized about $85 million in residential real estate sales. This amounts to 188 homes and condos sold in the Upper East River Valley market area. The vacant land segment reached 54 sales and $11 million in volume. And, the market enjoyed 9 commercial real estate sales totaling just over $4 million, helping to put us over the $100 million volume mark for 2012.

The Momentum

Over 60 of last year’s residential sales occurred during the last 3 months of 2012 and that momentum in the market has spilled over into 2013. During the first 7 weeks of the new year, our market has realized over 30 home and condo sales, averaging about $500,000 per transaction. Impressively, we have an additional 35 homes under contract and local agents are reporting a serious uptick in interest levels for all types of real estate in all price categories.

260 Room Elevation Hotel and Spa Sells to Texas Firm

The big stuff is selling too! Boxer Property, a Houston Texas based commercial real estate firm, just announced it acquired the Elevation Hotel and Spa property located in Mt. Crested Butte. According to their press release, this investment highlights Boxer’s dedication to increasing its hospitality portfolio by acquiring irreplaceable, resort-style lodging. The terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Located at the base of Colorado’s Mt. Crested Butte Ski Resort, theElevation Hotel and Spa has more than 260 rooms and features slopeside luxury accommodations. The property fell into receivership a few years ago after the previous owners defaulted. Crested Butte Mountain Resort has operated the hotel since and it appears they will continue their role into the immediate future.

Boxer Property is generally known for being a multi-tenant office buyer throughout the U.S. In December 2012 Boxer acquired it’s first hotel: Pointe Hilton Tapatio Cliffs Resort in Phoenix. Boxer continues to actively pursue additional hotel acquisitions. Visit Boxer Property Website

Gunnison Valley Hospital Improving It’s Bottom Line

A crucial component to the health of our local economy (no pun intended), the Gunnison Valley Hospital continues to improve its service levels and its bottom line. The hospital’s board of trustees and leadership team met with the Gunnison County Commissioners last week to discuss hospital plans to hit a positive bottom line of $394,017 in 2013. Learn More at theCrested Butte News

Update to My Real Estate Website

I am pleased to announce a dramatic upgrade to my real estate website. My Crested Butte Real Estate Guide is now fully functional on all Internet-enabled devices. The new adaptive design enables on-the-fly, property searches from smart phones and tablets to notebooks and big screen computers. The new site offers easy-to-use and anonymous Crested Butte MLS searches. I’ve also upgraded the exposure for my exclusive listings with improved Sotheby’s listing syndication and social media integration. Check out my new Crested Butte Real Estate Facebook page!

Thanks for reading my newsletter today and we hope to see you in Crested Butte soon!

Channing Boucher

Broker Associate
Benson Sotheby’s International Realty

Contact Channing at 970-596-3228 or via his website.

My Blog: The Crested Butte Real Estate Letter

View My Significant Sales