Record Low Interest Rates on New Mortages – Time to Buy Jackson Hole Real Estate!

Here’s an updated article the talks about the new record low interest rates.  Rates like this have not been seen for over 50 years.

http://money.msn.com/business-news/article.aspx?feed=AP&date=20120105&id=14666486 

For more information on Jackson Hole Real Estate please contact Garth and Christy Gillespie @ Jackson Hole Sotheby’s – 307-413-5243.

Jackson Hole Real Estate November 2011 Market Update

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Novemeber 2011 has come and gone here in the Jackson Hole Real Estate Market and we witnessed a pretty strong month when looking at the year as a whole.  There were 31 transactions last month — No quite the 13780 properties that sell every day in the United States but Jackson does contribute!  “How’s the Jackson Hole Real Estate Market?” — Well, “We sell a property every day!” 

In a couple of weeks we will be able to show you a graph of how we measure up when comparing Nov. 2010 to Nov. 2011 but in a nutshell, last year we had about $10 million more in sales volume but transactions were 16% lower.  November 2011 saw a median sales price of about $550,000.  This is quite low indicating a stronger low end market.  This is encouraging in my eyes as we are really starting to see the lower end market strengthen.  This of course is being generated by a few short sales, bank sales and realistic sellers.  1/3 of the market in Novemeber sold for under $400,000.

The higher end market saw some good signs too as we saw 2 transactions of about $7 million.  The Jackson market had 9 sales over $1 million. 

Other stats:  3 vacant land transactions, 5 condo transactions in Teton Village, 10 sales in the Town of Jackson.

Please call with any questions or if you need any additional information on the Jackson Hole Real Estate Market — Garth Gillespie, sales associate and partner of the Gillespie Real Estate Team – Jackson Hole Sotheby’s, 307-413-5243 or email at garth.gillespie@jhsir.com

 

 

 

Cottonwood Flats – Brand New Townhomes in Jackson Hole

Don’t miss the opportunity to tour Cottonwood Flats – Jackson Hole’s newest townhome development. These brand new townhomes feature hardwood floors, stainless steel appliances, attached garages and plenty of windows. The covered front porches and sidewalks throughout the development contribute to an ‘old neighborhood’ feel. All units come with a 1 year builders warranty.

Cottonwood Flats is located off South Park Loop Road and Whitehouse Drive – across the street from Indian Trails, a single family home neighborhoood. Cottonwood Flats is within walking distance to the Middle School and a bike ride away from the High School. There are connections to the great bike paths throughout the development.

There are currently 24 units complete – with 8 more units under construction and should be completed by Fall 2011. There are two 2-bedroom units available for sale and two 3-bedroom units available. The 2 bedroom units are 1,105 square feet and have a 1 car garage. The 3 bedroom units are 1,602 square feet and have a 2 car garage. Living in Cottonwood Flats is maintenance free as the HOA installs and maintains the landscaping, plows the sidewalks and driveways and will maintain the neighborhood park (constructed in a future phase). Dogs and cats are allowed.

We have model units that are open and available to show – just make an appointment.  Contact Garth Gillespie, sales representative and partner of the The Gillespie Real Estate Team at Jackson Hole Sotheby’s International Realty by email garth.gillespie@jhsir.com or call me at 307-413-5243 to set up an appointment.

Jackson Hole Real Estate Market Update: Statistics through June 2011

The first half of the year, the Jackson Hole real estate market experienced a slight improvement in sales dollar volume, but saw a significant increase in unit sales, suggesting that more transactions are happening in Teton County, but at lower sales prices.

Through June 2011, closed real estate transations in the Jackson Hole area were up 28% compared with the same period in 2010, while dollar volume sales rose improved only slightly. However, both unit sales and dollar volume were well above the lows of the real estate market in 2009 – unit sales up 96% and sales volume up 114%. Click here to view graph

June has proven to be the best month in 2011 for real estate sales dollar volume. In the month of June in Teton County, there were 29 transactions totaling $36.5 million. Compare this to the previous month of May (typically a slow month in real estate out here), where sales volumn totaled only $12 million.  Click here for a graph

Real Estate Sales by Area:

North of Town has seen the largest improvement in sales volume, with a 48% increase over the first half of 2010. North of the Town of Jackson includes neighborhoods such as Owl Creek, Solitude, Bar-B-Bar Meadows, Jackson Hole Golf & Tennis and Moulton Ranches. There were 23 sales totaling $46 million through June 2011.  South of Jackson Hole also experienced an increase in sales volume with sales totaling $21 million, a 28% increase over the first half of 2010. Teton Village experienced the largest increase in real estate transactions, with a whopping 81% increase over 2010. There were 38 sales in the first half of 2011, with many of the sales happening in the condo and condo-hotel market in Teton Village. Many investors took advantage of low prices on bank owned and foreclosed condos, in order to have a place located walking distance to Jackson Hole Mountain Resort.

For more information contact The Gillespie Real Estate Team at 307-739-8056 or garth.gillespie@jhsir.com.

Is it time to buy a Vacation Home in Jackson Hole?

A recent Wall Street Journal article suggests the clouds may be lifting over the national vacation home market, especially in the luxury segment of the real estate market. Overall, the second-home market is down 11% from 2009 and roughly 25% from 2006, compared to a 22% drop in the overall housing market, according to the article. However, the higher end of the vacation home market ($5 million and up) has held up much better. Douglas Duncan, chief economist at Fannie Mae explains “At the top of the market, particularly luxury homes, prices have proven very elastic, and have sprung upward quickly”.

Markets such as Palm Beach Island, FL, the Hamptons, NY and Aspen, CO have been experiencing an uptick in inquiries and real estate sales. This is not to say the boom is back, however. Overall, properties that are in prime locations, such as waterfront or ski resort properties, are selling, but homes in less desirable locations are still a bit sluggish. In addition, areas that were able to avoid over building and therefore keep inventories at a manageable level have also seen an improvement in sales.

What’s interesting is that most vacation home buyers aren’t looking to make a big profit. According to the National Association of Realtors (NAR), more than 80% of second home buyers surveyed reported that they purchased for consumption reasons – to live in the house and enjoy it – not for investment. Additionally, many second home buyers are cash buyers (36% of vacation home purchases last year were all cash deals, according to NAR) and they can therefore sidestep many of the restrictions placed on second home purchases by lending institutions.

In Jackson Hole, inventory levels remain high, creating many opportunities for second homebuyers in Teton Village, The Aspens, Teton Pines, and Shooting Star Golf Community. If you are interested in a link of available second home properties in Jackson Hole, please email us at garth.gillespie@jhsir.com — The Gillespie Real Estate Team at Jackson Hole Sotheby’s International Realty.

For a full copy of the Wall Street Journal article, click here.

2011 Shows Improvement in the Middle Market, Unit Sales Increase

First quarter results for the Jackson Hole Real Estate Market show encouraging trends. Teton County has experienced a slight increase in sales volume, and over 57% increase in units sold for the first quarter of 2011 vs. Q1 in 2010. This is a positive indicator for potentially continued improvement in the market.

Teton County Multiple Listing Service (MLS) also shows a significant increase (over 85%) of units sold in the under $1 million segment.  In the above $1 million segment, MLS reports a 23% increase in units sold in Q1 2011 over Q1 in 2010. Regarding dollar volume of sales, overall in Teton County, Q1 2011 is 12% above 2010. As such, the overall average sales price is down to $1.176 million in Q1 2011 due to the increase in volume in the middle market (under $1m.

Buyers in Jackson Hole are taking advantage of opportunities in the middle market in addition to the high-end market, which has already shown signs of stabilization in 2011. Please contact The Gillespie Real Estate Team at 307-739-8078 to learn about these great opportunties in Jackson Hole real estate.

Where was real estate selling in Jackson Hole in 2010?

Teton County real estate sales totaled $387 million for 2010, which includes Jackson Hole, Wilson, Teton Village, South of Town, North of Town, and West of the Snake River (Wilson).  The Town of Jackson aside, all areas reported susstaintial improvement in sales and unit volume. The area West of the Snake River saw the largest increase over 2009 of 136%, spurred by 4 large land sales and several single family home sales in Teton Pines.  Teton Village, at the base of Jackson Hole Mountain Resort, also saw a 74.5% increase in real estate sales over 2009, perhaps fueled by the new Aerial Tram and several bank owned condominium sales.

Teton County Units sold in 2010 totaled 261 transactions. The most sales (78) occurred in the Town of Jackson, however the Town experienced the smallest increase (13%) over 2009.  The highest increase (66.7%) in properties sold occurred in the South of Town locations, including Rafter J, Melody Ranch, and Hoback Junction – there were 50 sales in that area.

Average Sales Price increased in all areas, except the Town of Jackson, which experienced a decrease of 16.5% in the average sold price when compared to 2009. Properties West of the Snake River, including Teton Pines & Wilson, saw the largest increase of 93.8% over last year’s average sold price. Again, 4 large land sales and several Teton Pines home sales (averaging $2.8 million each) contributed to this increase. Average days on market were also higher than 2009. The overall all average days on market for sold properties was 282 days in 2010. This is 38% higher than in 2009.  Leading the way was North of Town, where properties were on the market for 367 days, and increase of 75% over last year.

The Gillespie Real Estate Team at Jackson Hole Sotheby’s Internation Realty has access to much more detailed information – call us at 307-739-8078 for a copy of the entire report of the 2010 Jackson Hole Real Estate Market Update.

Jackson Hole: 2010 Final Stats on Sales Volume in Teton County

Jackson Hole Sotheby’s International Realty has analyzed all real estate sales in Teton County, Wyoming from the Teton County Multiple Listing Service for the year 2010. The big picture, and good news, is that sales volume is up from 2009, and is parallel with 2003 sales numbers. Sales volume for 2010 totaled $387,800,000 which is an 69% increase over 2009 ($229,200,000) and unit volume of 261 is up 28% from the 203 sales registered in the MLS in 2009.  However, 2010 sales volume was still less than 1/2 of what is was in the peak of 2007, which saw real estate sales top out at $792,000,000 from 581 sales in Teton County.

It should be noted that not all real estate sales are registered in the MLS. In fact approximately 1/3 of all sales are not reported in the MLS. Over the past 10 years, approximately 37% of the units sold and 32% of the sales volume was NOT reported in the Teton County MLS. Therefore, the 2010 MLS volume of $388 million suggests that ACTUAL sales volume was about $510 million.

Jackson Hole – Wyoming – Disaster Free?

Maybe not exactly but Wyoming ranked 5th for Distaster Resistant real estate locations from the MSN real estate site:

Here’s the link:  http://realestate.msn.com/slideshow.aspx?cp-documentid=25641997&GT1=35006 

Here’s what they had to say about Wyoming and Jackson Hole:

Wyoming

Want to live tax-free, but don’t want to deal with hurricanes? Welcome to Wyoming, where individual and corporate taxes are as nonexistent as oceans and gulf currents. Residents may wonder how their state can be considered so safe when it was declared a disaster area in July after a serious bout of flooding. Simple: With only eight major disasters declared since FEMA started keeping tabs back in 1953, the least-populous state (roughly 540,000, or fewer than in Tucson, Ariz., alone) takes calamities including floods, tornadoes and winter storms in stride. With all that cash savings and little worry about impending doom, Wyoming newcomers should feel free to splurge on such homes as Sotheby’s $7 million, four-bedroom, seven-acre spread in Jackson Hole with a stone fireplace, infinity-edge outdoor hot tub, heated concrete floors, six-car garage, guest house and a 30-foot window wall with a view of the Tetons.

All I can say is somehow Utah beat us?  I beg to differ!

Teton County, Wyoming: Real Estate Stats – Year to date Feb 2011

According to the Multiple Listing Service (MLS), Teton County real estate sales volume is on track with 2004 and 2008 sales volume levels. Through Feb 2011, there have been 43 real estate sales reported in the MLS in Teton County, which includes Jackson, Wilson, Teton Village, Hoback Junction and Alpine. Total sales volume in this period is $58.1 million. This is a 38% improvement over the same period in 2010, where there were only 22 sales and $44.5 million in sales volume through the months of January and February.  While the first two months of 2011 are will above the ‘bottom’ of 2009, which only had 8 sales totaling $9.7 million, but still below the ‘peak’ of 2006, which saw 92 sales in the first two months of the year totaling $86 million.  

Along with an increase in real estate sales volume, the number of real estate transactions in teh first two months of the year in Teton County doubled from the first two months of 2010.  Of the 21 sales in February alone, Jackson Hole Sotheby’s International Realty had a 33% market share in Teton County. For more information, including graphs, please contact The Gillespie Real Estate Team at Sotheby’s International Realty at 307-739-8078.