Market Analysis: Snapshot of growth in mountain counties
In all five mountain counties, Eagle, Garfield, Pitkin, Routt and Summit, new construction has so far slowed considerably in the first half of 2008.
New construction sales
Garfield County (Glenwood Springs area) had the most new construction sales, with 246 units sold through June 30, 2008. Routt County (Steamboat area) followed, with 203 units. Summit County real estate had the least amount of new construction sales, with 92. However, it has less open land to build upon than most counties to begin with. For instance, Eagle County has a lot of open land downvalley, and it saw 199 new construction sales.
New construction
As far as gross volume of new construction, Eagle County had the largest percentage of the five counties, at 33%, for the first half of 2008. In 2007, it also led the pack with 23% of the gross volume.
Garfield County followed Eagle, with 29% of the new building. Pitkin and Routt counties tied at 19%, and Summit saw 14% of the share in both the first six months of 2008 and all of 2007 — so it’s still on track.
Who had more sales?
Summit County tied with Garfield County for the same percentage of transactions within the five-county region; both made up ¼ of the transactions in the first half of 2008. Summit County had 1,254 sales, while Garfield had 1,210. Eagle County followed, with 21% of sales, with 1,043 transactions. Pitkin and Routt came in at 12% and 17%, respectively.
In 2007, Summit County maintained its forefront as a sales leader, with 25% of sales (total of 3,200 transactions). Garfield County followed, with 22% of sales and 2,805 transactions. Eagle came in third, with 21%, or 2,688 sales, Routt was fourth with 20%, or 2,555 transactions, and Pitkin lagged with 11%, or 1,379 sales.
For the first half of 2008, average sales prices of single-family homes looked like this:
Pitkin County: $5.48 million
Eagle County: $1.64 million
Routt County: $1.03 million
Summit County: $833,732
Garfield County: $455,743
This proves, once again, that Summit County prices give skiers and snowboarders the best value for their money. The county offers four ski areas, rather than just one or two, like Routt and Eagle counties. And, it’s proximity and ease of travel to Denver makes it all the more popular.
Plus, in a time of slowing real estate sales, it has still managed to tie for first place among the five mountain communities in the number of transactions it has seen.
