Crested Butte Real Estate Advisor 2018 Issue #2

Top-Heavy

Greetings from Crested Butte and the Gunnison Valley!

If you are shopping for a home in the Upper Valley market place for the first time then its likely you are experiencing a bit of sticker shock. The most poignant aspect of our market is the utter lack of homes for sale in lower price ranges particularly those for sale below $800,000.

The condition in Crested Butte South, long considered the Upper Valley’s affordable place to live, is quite telling. The 6 homes for sale represent a median list price of $680,000 and the median list price per SF is $315. Eighteen CB South homes sold over the last 12 months.

The closer you get to the Town of Crested Butte the more you will pay. The best price opportunity north of CB South for a home on a traditional sized homesite (7,500 SF) is the listing at 99 Bridle Spur Way at Buckhorn Ranch where $695,000 gets you a 2007-built, 2,052 SF, 3-bedroom home. From here, the next best option is a newly listed 3-bedroom home listed for $839,000 and located on the same street at Buckhorn. Up in Mt. Crested Butte, the best price opportunity is $645,000 for a 2005-built 1,395 SF, 3 bedroom home located in the Pitchfork zero-lot line community.

Its not too surprising if you consider that last year was our strongest in a decade with 114 homes sold representing $135 million in volume. For the first time in many years, our market’s one-year absorption rate surpassed our current inventory level. Right now, there are 105 homes listed for sale in all locations from Crested Butte South to Mt Crested Butte and during the last 12 months, 117 homes sold. 66 of these homes closed at prices below $1 million causing our current scarcity condition in the price range.

The shocker? 92 of the available 105 homes for sale are listed at or above $800,000. Thats right, only 12% of all our area homes are listed at or below $800K, and 77 (73%) of the 105 active offerings are listed at or above $1 million!

This top-heavy market condition is causing locals, builders and investors alike to turn their attention to homesites and other land properties. Over the past 12 months, 127 land properties have sold off (17 lots are currently under contract). The absorption of land is promising however our market is still very much saturated with listings. There are 253 parcels for sale in the Upper Valley to be exact. Generally speaking, land prices still hover around 50% of their 2006 market peak values.

View Last Month’s Newsletter for additional perspective on our current market conditions.

Thanks for reading today.
Channing Boucher
Broker Associate
Crested Butte | Sothebys International Realty
401 Elk Avenue
Crested Butte CO 81224
970-596-3228