#Summit County #Colorado
Summit Daily News Link |
| Courtesy Real Estate of the Summit Inc. |
Real estate revenue and sales faltered at the end of 2016 following a year of lowering inventory.
Sales last December saw a vast drop from those that happened at the same time in 2015. This year, 200 sales were made compared to 270 in 2015. Revenue came in at nearly $119 million, but was still a little more than $14 million behind December of 2015. The end of the year is not typically a booming market for real estate, as some people looking to sell take their houses off the market in the hopes of getting a better deal renting. However, in 2015, December was the third highest month in both revenue and sales. December did see a higher amount of sales that hit over $1 million. In 2015, there were 17 million-dollar sales in December; 2016 had an additional three.
Dennis Clauer, owner and broker at Real Estate of the Summit Inc., said that the sharp decrease in sales was due to the small amount of inventory that Summit County had seen during all of 2016.
"Inventory continues to be at historic lows," he said.
He added that the lower amount of inventory is impacting buyers being able to find a home that fits their needs.
Lack of inventory has also had a drastic impact on the average sale price in Summit. Between January 2012 and this year, the average price of a single family home has jumped up 68 percent, Clauer said. Single-family homes in the county are sitting at an average sale price of more than $1.1 million. For condos, there was a similar jump in the average sale price, which went up 41 percent.
The rise in prices is also dependent on the area the property is found in. The top sale was for $3.885 million in the Shock Hill neighborhood. The home is just under 4,800 square feet, which Beverly Breakstone, the county assessor, said was a smaller home for the area. The price tag indicates that the neighborhood still has a high value. A property at Yingling and Mickels in Breckenridge sold for $2.3 million. The property is 1,316 square feet.
"That's not much square footage for a lot of money," Breakstone said.
She added that it was a remodeled property in the Downtown Historic district, which is also a highly valued area.
Eddie O'Brien, of O'Brien & Associates Real Estate Inc., said that there's some new developments on the horizon in Summit. Projects like Angler Mountain are nearing completion. Many of the units in those projects sell before construction is completed. O'Brien added that current developments like the new townhomes in Keystone are not helping with demand for condos.
"There's certainly a demand, but you can't measure it because the demand can't be fulfilled," he said.
Clauer said the number of condo sales jumped 161 percent between 2012 and 2017. Condo demand is coming from the usual suspects — skiers looking for a spot close to resorts, and locals hoping to find a permanent home — but O'Brien said that investors are also entering the market, looking for options to rent out on Airbnb or VRBO.
"The guy that's buying a condo and not renting it out is pretty rare," he said.
TOP FIVE: DECEMBER
1. $3,885,000 — Breckenridge, Lot 21 Shock Hill (residential home)
2. $3,850,000 — Breckenridge, Lot 21 Westridge Sub (residential home)
3, $2,350,000 — Breckenridge, Lot 7B Shock Hill Overlook #1 (residential home)
4. $2,300,000 — Breckenridge, Lot 1 Block 1 Yingling and Mickels (residential home)
5. $2,237,500 — Breckenridge, Lot 7A Shock Hill Overlook #1 (residential home)
