Real estate slides in Aspen, Jackson
ASPEN, Colo. -- The real estate skid continues in mountain towns. New reports from June document continued sluggishness in the Aspen and Jackson Hole markets, at least when compared to the previous three years. Sales volume in total dollars was about half what it was going into the Fourth of July weekend last year.
Prices are dropping in some market segments, but not all. The highest end has survived rather well.
In Aspen and Pitkin County, the dollar volume this year has dropped 50 percent through June as compared with last year, reports the Land Title Guarantee Co. This sends the Aspen market back only to 2004 levels.
Some sellers are still asking higher prices, real estate agents tell The Aspen Times, but the appreciation has slowed. "We don't have 20 percent appreciation right now," said Robert Ritchie, a broker with the firm of Coates, Reid and Waldron. "We still have (appreciation), but it's in the single digits."
In Jackson Hole, total sales volume was down 46 percent through June. Overall, the median home price of sales grew less than 2 percent, to $1.2 million.
But the report from real estate analyst David Veihman cited in the Jackson Hole News&Guide painted a picture of a strongly bifurcated market. The higher-end market, which accounts for 60 percent of Jackson Hole's activity, continues to do reasonably well. One set of "golf "cabins" are getting $4 million.
In what Veihman calls the "locals segment," of $1 million and less, sales are down 60 percent. Some lower-end properties were overpriced by as much as 30 percent, he said.
As has been reported in Aspen, some in Jackson Hole expect the ranks of real-estate agents to thin. "You can't support 800 Realtors on 131 residential sales," observed broker Greg Prugh.
Still, Prugh sees this as a good thing. "I just think sellers are coming back to earth a bit, and that keeps the market healthy," he told the newspaper.
How soon will the good old days return? Some faint glimmer of hope for recovering sales this summer seems to exist, but Bob Starodoj, an agent who has worked in Aspen for more than 40 years, believes the record real estate volume of $2.4 billion established in 2006 is safe for now -- and into the future. "It's probably never going to be repeated," he told the Times somewhat ominously.
Aspen raises the bar on energy efficiency
ASPEN, Colo. -- Aspen city officials plan to stiffen energy efficiency standards for commercial buildings. The new code aims to move Aspen along toward meeting the "2030 Challenge," a national program that aims to reduce energy consumption by 50 percent in the next 22 years.
Stephen Kanipe, the city's chief building official, said the green building and renewable energy components are the future of the construction industry, reports the Aspen Daily News. "We're just a few years ahead of the curve," he told elected officials at a recent meeting.
While building groups estimate that green-building measures such as those proposed by Aspen increase costs 2 to 5 percent, Kanipe argues that long-term savings warrant the up-front costs. Bottom-dollar value engineering "does not make sense anymore," Kanipe said. "You can't afford to heat the building."
In other words, building better is more economical, because of increasing energy costs.
Similar to an existing program for homes, the new regulations will allow energy-consuming outdoor features such as heated snowmelt sidewalks and heated pools. However, if they do so, the commercial projects must install on-site renewable energy features, such as photovoltaic collectors, or pay an in-lieu fee for energy efficiency and renewable energy projects elsewhere.
Vacation ordering just like buying shoes
WHISTLER, B.C. -- Peter Yesawich, who is well known in the ski and resort world for his research and marketing work, was in Whistler recently to share his expertise about U.S. travel trends.
Yesawich's expertise is of great interest in Whistler, noted Pique editor Bob Barnett, as the U.S. market makes up 25 to 30 percent of Whistler's total room nights. So far, says Barnett, Whistler has avoided the full impact of the U.S. economic problems because of the resort's proximity to the Seattle metropolis, one of the 10 wealthiest regions in the U.S. Even so, numbers have been steadily dropping this year, and Whistler's future? Yesawich suggested the travel industry might take its cues from companies like Nike and Saturn, that have developed websites where people can order the exact colors, features and materials they want in their running shoes or cars.
McCain confers with Dalai Lama in Aspen
ASPEN, Colo. -- Even by standards of Aspen, where Nobel laureates, billionaires, and the nation's highest officials are commonplace during high summer, it was an unusual afternoon. The Dalai Lama had long been scheduled for a public appearance, and presidential candidate John McCain decided to stop by for an hour-long, personal audience.
The Dalai Lama got a warmer public embrace than did McCain, whose plane was greeted by a small continent of people protesting the war in Iraq and other national issues.
After their private meeting, reports The Aspen Times, McCain told reporters that he was disappointed that the Dalai Lama was blamed by Chinese officials for the recent protests in Tibet. The charges, he said, are untrue.
"Such rhetoric doesn't serve the cause of peaceful change and reconciliation," he said. Tibetans, he added, "do have "just grievances."
