Tag Archive for: vacation home

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.

Rocky Mountain Resort Alliance 2007 Report

Christy and I received a very interesting report from the Rocky Mountain Resort Alliance the other day and we felt like the information would be helpful to many of you.

First off…What is the Rocky Mountain Resort Alliance (RMRA)?  The Rocky Mountain Resort Alliance is composed of boards of REALTORS of destination ski resorts in the Rocky Mountain West. The alliance was formed in January of 1996 at a meeting in Vail, CO with the presidents of the various boards or REALTORS attending. At this meeting, the various presidents discussed and came to the realization that geographic boundaries were no longer as important as the common bond that we share as resort REALTORS. We understood that the marketing and selling of resort real estate is very different from the traditional models of residential real estate sales. Our buyers and sellers have different expectations and goals and are looking for a REALTOR with knowledge of the resort markets. Frequently, buyers for a vacation home in one resort are comparing similar properties in neighboring resorts. From this realization came the idea of sharing sales information from the various resorts as well as pressing issues the resorts are facing. We know that because of the mountains, we have very limited space for development and housing the work force are issues facing each resort. As the demand for resort real estate grows, and prices increase, there is more pressure on finding suitable housing for the very important work force.

RMRA End of Year 2007

 

Whistler

Park City

Steamboat

Summit County

Sun Valley

# of Active Listings

599

2902

1244

3240

1611

# of Units Sold

846

2306

1725

2463

653

Total Volume Sold

$768,745,877

$1,945,092,339

$1,002,483,388

$1,306,053,245

$558,758,059

Average Sales Price

$908,683

$843,492

$581,150

$530,269

$855,678

# of Agents

125

1184

425

820

410

            

Aspen

Telluride

Jackson Hole

Vail

Winter Park

# of Active Listings

1041

629

409

1782

4176

# of Units Sold

851

355

599

2258

1051

Total Volume Sold

$1,820,970,617

$518,327,166

$844,374,258

$2,641,306,700

$387,022,178   

Average Sales Price

$2,139,801

$1,460,077

$1,409,640

$1,169,755

$368,242

# of Agents

711

248

752

810

206

Those are some outstanding statistics.  When we look deeper into the numbers a few statistics catch our eye.

  • Teton County, Wyoming average sales price is the second highest behind Aspen. 
  • Teton County, Wyoming has the least amount of inventory available and has all the other communities beat by 200 units.

Christy and I have all the statistics broken down into types of sales so if you would like to learn more please email us at garth.gillespie@sothebysrealty.com or visit us at www.jacksonholeexperts.com.