2008 Year in Review

Happy New Year from Crested Butte Colorado!

I want to thank everyone that helped make 2008 another great year to be a part of such an amazing community of people in one heckuva mountain town! Crested Butte is still the Last, Great Colorado Ski Town and all of us that live or vacation in the Butte know it!

Good Luck in 2009!
Channing Boucher
Visit the Crested Butte Real Estate Guide

Crested Butte Real Estate Year In Review – The Highlights

Crested Butte still doesn’t have any parking meters or traffic lights! – Hooray!

The 2008-2009 ski season kicked off with 120+ inches of snow by Christmas!

In the face of the national economic turmoil and the credit crisis, Crested Butte Mountain Resort scored big with CNL Lifestyles. CNL – a Florida-based Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT) purchased CBMR in a $132 million deal that included the Mueller’s other ski resorts in Vermont. The Muellers will continue to operate all three ski resorts under a "lease-back" agreement. The lease term is 40 years. CNL will help to capitalize Crested Butte Mountain Resort operations and its resort and real estate expansion.

$50+ Million School Bond Passed (3A) – Capital improvements and many educational enhancements are about to begin at 6 of our community’s public schools including the top-rated Crested Butte Community School.

High profile publicity for Crested Butte came in the form of great PR and numerous articles in the NY Times, the Wall Street Journal and Outside Magazine and Sunset Magazine put Crested Butte in the Top 10 Best Places to live in the United States!

2008 real estate sales in Crested Butte were down from recent years but well over $100 million worth of homes, condos, vacant land and ranch parcels traded during the year. Approximately 45% of the deals were ‘all-cash’ transactions signaling continued demand from saavy investors and an on-going appeal for the real estate in our community. Days on market came in high but this is typical of our resort community. Inventories are still very high – in all categories – giving buyers an advantage, especially for vacant land and condos in Mt Crested Butte. The market area includes properties sold from Almont, Colorado north to Crested Butte and Mt Crested Butte. The figures below are from the Gunnison Country MLS system only.