1st Quarter Real Estate Results for Jackson Hole, Wyoming

It will go down as a quarter to forget… Probably the weakest quarter of results that Teton County, Wyoming has seen in recent history. This on the heels of a rather bleak report in the 4th quarter of 2008 where we only had 48 units sold (wait till you read below the 1st quarter results) and volume of just over $100 million.

The preliminary results that we have gathered are taken strictly from the Teton County Multiple Listing Service data. There are always transactions that take place off to the sidelines but with all the reporting we do we always use the data supplied to us by the MLS and the agents that report the results to the board. During the 1st quarter of 2009, Christy and I wondered where the buyers had gone. There were very few transactions taking place and although we did show property, we DID NOT see many offers. That was the case throughout the real estate business in Jackson Hole.

During the months of January, February and March there were 17 reported closings in all of Teton County, Wyoming. The sales volume is an estimated $36 million as 4 closings did not report the closing price and one of the 4 unreported closings was listed for $10,500,000. Taking a closer look at the 17 closings – 1 was a lease, 2 were fractional ownerships, 3 were commercial properties, 2 were condos and 9 were single family homes. The most activity occurred in Melody Ranch with a total of 4 single family homes sold!

The pending transaction data leaves us questioning where we are heading. We recently reported that most of the pending transactions are from soon to be completed development projects (Terra/Sweetwater Lodge in Teton Village, Pine Glades in the town of Jackson and 270 W. Pearl) and that has not changed. There are currently 39 pending transactions with 29 of them being “pre-sale” purchases. In reality that leaves us with 10 pending “deals”. To make the numbers even better (wink, wink) of the 10 remaining – 4 are fractional sales. That leaves us with only a condo in the Aspens, a townhome in the town of Jackson, a home in South Park, a Four Seasons Resort penthouse and 2 commercial purchases as the only property pending. The biggest void in all of these numbers is transactions below $500,000. Currently, there are NO pending transactions in condos under $500,000 in the town of Jackson, south of town or on the “West Bank”. If we are to look for the root of our stalled real estate market Christy and I will put the blame on the complete failure of the “low-end” market. We often use the analogy of tipping over dominos in real estate – need one domino to fall to get another to fall. Well – no one is tipping over the first domino.

Active inventory has been staying fairly stable as we are witnessing a lot of potential sellers keeping their properties off the market and waiting to see what happens. Inventory has actually dropped (40 units) since February. There are currently 516 residential units and 143 vacant land parcels for sale in Teton County.

As more data is released and when Sotheby’s International Realty – Jackson Hole Brokerage computes their data we will update our report. Christy and Garth Gillespie – the Jackson Hole Experts – are happy to compile this information so if you would like to discuss the current data, are considering listing your home or interested in learning more about the Jackson Hole real estate market please do not hesitate to call us toll free at 877-739-8056. We also have a great feature we call the Top Picks — which are Christy and Garth’s top real estate values in Jackson Hole – feel free to check them out.