Hello from Very Snowy Crested Butte Colorado!
Our ski season has been incredible. The atmospheric river, while devastating to our friends in California, has delivered some of the best snow conditions we’ve experienced in Crested Butte in years. It’s a great feeling to ski powder. It also feels good to think we’ll have a good spring and summer runoff that will bring our coveted rivers and reservoirs back to life.
It is no secret the U.S. real estate market has changed. Factors including the rise in mortgage interest rates, inflation, scarcity of listings, high costs to build and uncertainty in our economy all contribute to the current national condition.
In Crested Butte and Gunnison, you can tell the market has softened by the number of realtors spending more time on social media talking about things other than new listings, sales and market information. But, here is some perspective.
A Billion Dollar Market in Gunnison and Crested Butte
Yes, the 2022 market in Gunnison County declined. Sales volume and transactions were down about 28% compared to our record setting year of 2021. The one thing no one seems to be talking about? Our 2022 market declined to the 2nd highest sales volume in history and we hit the highest average sold price per residential transaction…ever. And, our average days on market hit its lowest number – 166 days – in history.
For the third year in a row, our market breached $1 billion in sales. Over the last 3 years Gunnison County realized almost $4 billion in real estate investment. The significance of this fact can’t be overstated. It is absolutely incredible and something I predicted when Vail Resorts acquired Crested Butte’s ski resort at the end of 2018. Vail Resorts has put us on the map with it’s leadership, it’s marketing and the Epic Ski Pass. Thousands of people have experienced Crested Butte and Gunnison for the first time since Vail showed up and much of the visitorship translates to increased demand and investor confidence.
Will we sell another $1 billion in 2023? Maybe but there are limits to hitting this threshold again. Here they are:
-
Inventory of available of residential listings is at the lowest point in years.
-
Inventory of available land listings is also at a multi-year low point.
-
Since January 1st, 2020 over 1,000 parcels of land sold in our valley and most of it remains undeveloped.
-
The majority of new construction in our valley comprises high end custom homes for individual families. There are very few spec or “for sale” residential projects underway.
-
The cost per SF to build anything in our valley is at an all-time high. This is due to our very limited labor pool and inflationary pricing on building materials.
-
Most property owners in our valley are not interested in selling. Why sell now? Confidence in our market, our future and Vail Resort’s leadership is strong.
-
Extreme no-growth politics at the local and County level has made us very exclusive.
County-wide there are 44 residential properties under contract representing $41 million in volume with an average price of $920,000 which is over $100,000 higher than 2022’s averages. My prediction for 2023? We might not breach $1 billion in total sales volume but we may very well blow through the $1 million average sold price threshold for a home and condo.
For a deeper dive on our current market conditions, contact me anytime.
LIV Sotheby’s International Realty
Gunnison County’s Top Producing Agent in 2022
