Crested Butte Real Estate Advisor – April 2021 – The Land Issue

VIEW THIS EMAIL WITH FEATURED LISTINGS

Greetings from Crested Butte,

In my last market update I predicted 2021 would go down as the year of the land grab in Crested Butte. Sure enough, after last year’s record breaking sales for homes and condos buyer demand for homesites and larger acreage properties is surging with investment hitting volume levels and intensity we’ve not seen since 2005.

Extreme Scarcity of Homes
We’ve never experienced such an extreme scarcity condition for homes and condos like we do today. Buyer demand is peaking while available home and condo listings are shrinking. With only 26 single family homes on the market across the entire Upper Valley market (CB South to Mt Crested Butte) and only 35 condos and townhouses (mainly located in Mt Crested Butte) for sale it appears that buying a piece of dirt and endeavoring a design-build is the only way to beat this current market condition.

2021 Year-to-Date Residential Sales
Last year’s incredible sales volume has spilled over into 2021. A whopping 118 residential properties have sold off so far representing $110 million in sales volume. Last year during the same time frame our market realized just 52 home and condo sales and $42 million in volume.

2021 Year-to-Date Land Sales
75 parcels have sold representing $39 million in volume with another 50 parcels under contract representing $34 million in value. This is incredible. Historically we never sell land during the winter months. The approximately $73 million in market activity puts us WAY ahead of last year’s 12 month performance ($56.5 million) and we are still 2 months away from our typically busy summer selling season.

2020 Land Market Comparison
During the same YTD time frame in 2020, we realized just 14 land sales and $3.9 million in volume. But, the land market came alive as we pulled out of the pandemic lock down finishing 2020 with 131 total sales and $56.5 million volume.

Currently, there are 145 active land listings for sale in the Crested Butte market area. 42 of these listings are 35+ acre ranch offerings and 65 are properties of 1 acre or less. While an array of land options still exist out there buyers need to understand that with so much demand it won’t be long before values climb and scarcity rules the day.

Thanks for reading today and please contact me anytime for deeper insight to the dynamic and fast changing Crested Butte real estate marketplace.

Channing Boucher
LIV Sothebys International Realty – Crested Butte
401 Elk Avenue
Crested Butte, CO 81224
970-596-3228