For the week of November 5 - 11, 2003

Mountain real estate staging a comeback

Aspen, Jackson report
strengthening sales—mostly

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By GREGORY FOLEY
Express Staff Writer

The Wood River Valley is not the only Rocky Mountain resort region experiencing strong sales the real-estate industry.

Real-estate brokers from Aspen, Colo., and Jackson, Wyo., reported this week that they are also witnessing a surge in property sales, particularly in the middle and low sectors of the market.

And, like in the Wood River Valley, sales of properties in the top end of the Aspen and Jackson markets are generally average, marked by some price reductions prompted by an abundance of luxury offerings.

David Viehman, an owner of and broker for Jackson Hole Real Estate & Appraisal, said property sales during the first nine months of 2003 were down 8 percent compared to 2002. However, he noted that when one aberrant $65 million ranch sale in 2002 is omitted from the calculations, sales this year increased in total dollar value by 8.5 percent.

"We’re encouraged," Viehman said. "We’ve had a very healthy year."

Viehman said the high end of the Jackson market is clearly the weakest sector. Nearly 350 properties priced at more than $1 million are being offered in the region, Viehman said, about 200 of which are luxury vacation homes and condominiums.

Transactions for properties listed for more than $1 million are down 29 percent in the first nine months of 2003, Viehman said, while the dollar value of such transactions is down 47 percent.

Penney Carruth, an associate broker for Mason & Morse Real Estate in Aspen, said her office considers 2002 "an aberration" that does not provide useful comparisons to 2003 sales figures.

From January through October 2001, 91 sales were recorded in the immediate Aspen area—including only Aspen, Snowmass and Woody Creek. In the first 10 months of 2003, Carruth said, 95 sales were recorded.

However, the total dollar value of the 2003 transactions exceeded those in 2001 by 33 percent, Carruth noted.

"There hasn’t been the depressed pricing this year that some buyers anticipated," she said. "There have been some reductions, but nothing radical."

Carruth said Aspen currently has 18 high-end properties on the market, with "high-end" being defined as properties listed for more than $10 million. "Two million dollars is entry level for a house anywhere near the downtown core," she said.

 

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