Happy Fall from Crested Butte,
The real estate market in Crested Butte and Gunnison County is officially “off the charts”. What began with the COVID-19 outbreak in April 2020 continued in 2021 in a stunning manner. Our local market has set all time transaction and sales volumes records and left us with dwindling inventories, dramatic increases in prices and a major shift in our community’s demographics. Most people think our market surge is due solely to the pandemic and America’s flight from populated cities. While it’s true many remote worker refugees have certainly made it to Crested Butte to hide out from the virus the main contributing factor to our real estate market’s incredible surge is Vail’s ownership of the resort and our inclusion to their worldwide Epic Pass program.
When Vail acquired Crested Butte in late 2018 many of my friends and colleagues living in other Vail resort towns told me to get ready for serious changes to our community, our tourism and our real estate market. I now fully understand what everyone was talking about.
Many of the buyer clients that I’ve helped in recent months all admit they had never been to Crested Butte prior to the Epic Pass. Some admit they had never heard of Crested Butte prior to putting that ski pass around their neck. My favorite comment? “I didn’t know that places like Crested Butte still existed in the world.”
Essentially, the Epic Pass has blown the cover off Crested Butte and created global exposure no previous operator of our ski resort could ever reach. With so many new people coming to Crested Butte it’s no wonder why we are selling so much real estate. Equally impressive is the change in the demographics of today’s investor. Many of today’s buyers are younger than ever, many are under 40 years of age. These millennials have entered our market with strong buying power and a willingness to pay top dollar to get what they want.
Off the Charts Transactions and Volume
Year-to-date, 562 residential properties have sold in Crested Butte and Gunnison. This represents $467 million in sales volume, an all-time record high for this County. There are 126 residential properties under contract currently translating into another $102 million in pending sales volume.
Land Segment Rebounding in a Big Way
The natural tail-whip from all of the residential sales and shrinking inventories is the impact on the vacant land and homesite segment of our market. Incredibly, 392 land properties have sold this year representing $134 million in sales volume. In many locations land values have doubled and in places like CB South and Buckhorn Ranch land values have tripled in 2021. There are 62 pending land sales with a potential volume of $36 million and now available land inventory is at a 16 year low.
Commercial Real Estate Booming Too
Our market surge is not restricted to homes and parcel sales. The commercial real estate segment in our valley is booming too. Year-to-date, 39 commercial properties have sold translating into $50 million in sales. There is another $20 million worth of commercial real estate under contract. Assuming all of these pending sales close by years end, the Gunnison County real estate market will breach $750 million in total sales volume for 2021!
For a guy with a 30+ year history in Crested Butte this change to our valley is incredible but not surprising. We’ve been discovered on a “epic” scale. Thanks for reading today. To learn more about our market and our community, contact me anytime.
Channing Boucher
Broker Associate
LIV Sothebys International Realty – Crested Butte
970-596-3228
