From YourMountainBroker.com
Real Estate Booms
By KIM MARQUIS
From The Summit Daily News
September 11, 2004
SUMMIT COUNTY - Real estate sold at a brisk pace in Summit County through the first half of the year, according to statistics compiled by the Summit Association of Realtors.
Sales for the first six months totaled $86,561,900, compared to $37,878,794 for the same period in 2003.
Nearly double the number of units - 200 - closed in the first half of the year compared to 108 units in the first half of 2003.
Jeff Moore, managing broker at Slifer, Smith and Frampton on Main Street in Breckenridge, expected the trend to continue through the end of the year.
"It's a more positive trend than we saw 12 months ago for sure," Moore said. "We're recovering from that slow period and gaining strength."
Much media attention was given to small increases in interest rates last spring, but they dropped to about 6 percent for a 30-year, fixed-rate mortgage and 5.5 percent for a 15-year loan.
"We still have a lot of people saying there's cheap money out there," Moore said.
The finicky stock market is driving investors to resort real estate and helping boost sales in Summit County, Moore said.
"Buyers are still afraid of the stock market," he said. "This investment makes sense as far as diversifying a portfolio. It's something they can touch and enjoy with their grandkids. The stock market, which we sometimes compete against, is our ally. People are moving away from it."
Moore said property priced below $600,000 moved the quickest in the last six months, with a few exceptions. Large condominium complexes designed for second homeowners are moving at a slower pace due to a large inventory.
"The softest market is in the higher ski-in, ski-out condominium market priced between $500,000 to $1 million," Moore said.
About four years ago, the 82 units in Breckenridge's Main Street Station went on the market and all of the developer's units sold, but re-sales created high inventory that presented an opportunity for buyers to get a good deal, Moore said.
The same situation is seen in Keystone, where too much inventory stalled equity gains for property owners, and buyers could be more aggressive than in Frisco, for example, where inventory remains low.
Sales in Keystone were strong in the first half of the year, reducing inventory and possibly helping property values catch up.
"The prices will start to correct themselves," in Keystone, Moore said.
In the million-dollar-plus market, more than 100 properties are for sale with an average sell time of more than 500 days.
Property in the category will sell more quickly if competitively priced, Moore said, although purchases are frequently not a function of finances but of emotion.
"People in the $2.5 million-plus range are looking around and are frankly disappointed in what they get for that amount so have gone to the vacant-land option," he said.
Sales in the first half of the year included 262 single family homes and 59 duplexes that sold for an average $526,807 and 625 condominiums and townhouses at an average price of $264,104.
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