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It sounds like a broken record at this point, but the first two months of 2018 look a lot like all of 2017 with Summit County continuing to see a historically low number of listings influence the local real estate market.
Leading the way, the most expensive sale of the month was for a four-bedroom, five-bathroom home at 45 Loxmax Drive in Breckenridge, according to property records on file with the Summit County Assessor's Office.
A ski-in, ski-out property with over 5,000 square feet of space inside, the custom-built home was constructed in 2005 and sold for a cool $3 million last month. In September 2015, it went for just over $2.5 million.
"It's basically more of the same, which is to say we have a real-estate starved inventory and a steady demand from locals, as well as second home owners, looking for a piece of Summit County," said Chris Eby, a local broker and the owner of Buyer's Resource Real Estate in Frisco.
With more than 40 years of industry experience in Summit County, Eby said he sees no signs this trend will change course anytime soon, though he's learned over the decades not to underestimate the federal government's and Wall Street's capacity to fowl things up for the rest of the country.
Barring any unforeseen national or global influences, however, Eby believes the limited supply, which drives prices up and the number of days homes spend on the market down, will persist.
"Focusing on the dynamics of supply and demand in Summit County and Colorado, it would be hard for me to think there's going to be too much change," he said of current trends. "I continue to see a lot of activity, a lot of appreciation and a lot of demand."
According to his company's 2017 year-end real estate report, the greatest demand for available housing in Summit exists in Dillon, Frisco and the Summit Cove neighborhood, while Breckenridge and Silverthorne have more available housing, at least comparatively.
Over the phone, Eby said he actually searched the listings earlier Monday morning and found only about a dozen in Dillon and Summit Cove combined, including everything from small condos up to seven-figure trophy homes.
"It's crazy," he said of the market. "I can't tell you if I've ever seen it like that."
And he's not the only one.
According to the Brooke Roberts, director of marketing and sales at Land Title Guarantee Company, which regularly tracks these figures, the local inventory is at or near an all-time low with only 313 listings countywide after the first week of March.
That's in line with what Roberts saw the first two months of the year with 305 active listings in February and 308 in January, but remains below the number of active listings from recent years and far below 2013 when there were over 1,000.
Both Eby and Roberts said the local real estate market usually slows down considerably during the first quarter of each year, and they're expecting more inventory as spring sets in.
However, even though more people will likely be looking to sell properties in the spring, Eby said that anything listed at an appropriate price is likely to "get a lot of action and disappear pretty quick."
Typically luxury homes, defined by a sale at or above $1 million, spend more time on the market than other segments of the real estate market.
However, according one of the largest movers of luxury homes in Summit County, the average number of days a luxury home spends on the market has continued to drop over the last 12 months and is down 10 percent.
The month-over-month drop was even more dramatic with the average days luxury homes spent on the market in February down staggering 56 percent compared to February 2017.
Navigating the current conditions can be difficult for anyone, but especially hard on first-time homebuyers. As such, a free class for people looking to buy their first homes will be offered from 8:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. Wednesday at the County Commons in Frisco.
It's sponsored by the Colorado Housing and Finance Authority, and through the class, first-time homebuyers can get help finding out what it takes to buy a home with advice from local volunteers who will cover everything from securing financing to closing the deal, along with titling, inspections and down-payment assistance programs.
Space is limited, and people should register for the free class by calling 970-453-3556 or emailing Erico@summithousing.us.
FEBRUARY’S TOP 5 REAL ESTATE SALES
1. $3 million, 45 Lomax Drive, Lomax Estates, Breckenridge (single-family home)
2. $2.4 million, 44 West Point Lode, Shock Hill Overlook No. 1, Breckenridge (two and three unit land)
3. $2.18 million, 30 Estates Drive, Summit Estates, Breckenridge (single-family home)
4. $1.73 million, 145 Penn Lode Drive, Shock Hill, Breckenridge (residential vacant land)
5. $1.6 million, Unit 7504, 1891 Ski Hill Road, Crystal Peak Lodge Condos, Breckenridge (condominium unit)
Source: Summit County Assessor’s Office
FEBRUARY REAL ESTATE BY THE NUMBERS
128: Number of real estate sales
116: Number of real estate sales in 2017
$79.54: Total value of all sales
$71.58 million: Total value of all sales in 2017
$3 million: Most expensive sale
$4.2: Most expensive sale of 2017
20: Sales at or above $1 million
17: Sales at or above $1 million in 2017
Source: Summit County Assessor’s Office
