News
ENLARGE
While Summit County's real estate sales have improved over the past few years, the nature of the resort market is holding things back compared to other residential areas.
“What we have here is non-distressed sellers that are holding onto property and waiting for prices to get better, said Chuck Leathers, the broker/owner of Chuck Leathers Real Estate Co. in Frisco. “A lot of these sellers do not have to sell.”
Leathers said prices have not dropped “nearly as much” as they have in much of the west: Costs are down in Summit about 17 percent from the top of the market in 2008, while “there are areas of Arizona where they drop 17 percent per month.”
“The prices have not dropped because they don't have to,” Leathers said.
He said about 75 percent of Summit's real estate market are second homes.
“Our market has a lot of variables that are quite different,” said Daniel Webster Johnson, a broker associate at Resort Brokers Real Estate in Breckenridge. “When do you buy a new home in a second market — when things just start to get better, or a few years after?”
Leathers' recent “Real Estate at a Glance” columns in the Summit Daily indicate the average number of homes sold, average resale price and the average price of single-family homes have all improved since the economy hit, but still aren't back to early 2000 levels. 2011 ended with 1,288 total sales in Summit, an increase of 8.6 percent over 2010, while average sale prices for existing properties fell by 2.7 percent, a “major improvement” over 2010's decline of 14 percent.
The average sale price in 2011 for single-family homes was just under $800,000 compared to almost $1 million in 2009, and about $500,000 in 2000. Leathers said that prices “have effectively stopped falling at this point.” An increase of foreclosures would drive prices further down, but there's not enough right now for that to happen, he said.
Summit County Treasurer Bill Wallace said there are currently 13 foreclosures in the works, compared to 28 at the same time last year.
“If it's a trend, it's a nice trend,” Wallace said.
Webster Johnson said he's not sure prices are at a bottom. At the real estate conferences he attends, it seems there are “consistent increases across the rest of the markets.”
“That makes me think we're not at a bottom,” he said. “I like to joke that the Realtor community should have a parade down Main Street, Frisco when the prices bottom out.”
According to Leathers, there are a few homes for sale in Dillon Valley at 2005 prices: One-bedrooms at about $80,000 that were listed around $120,000-$130,000 a few years back, and a few single-family homes list for under $300,000, which he said is pretty good for Summit County.
“I do believe prices are at a good value now. Will they go down more? I don't know,” Webster Johnson said. “Where we're at in the cycle: it's a good value.”
The current number of real estate listings in Summit — under 1,700 — is the lowest it has been since 2007.
“What we have here is non-distressed sellers that are holding onto property and waiting for prices to get better, said Chuck Leathers, the broker/owner of Chuck Leathers Real Estate Co. in Frisco. “A lot of these sellers do not have to sell.”
Leathers said prices have not dropped “nearly as much” as they have in much of the west: Costs are down in Summit about 17 percent from the top of the market in 2008, while “there are areas of Arizona where they drop 17 percent per month.”
“The prices have not dropped because they don't have to,” Leathers said.
He said about 75 percent of Summit's real estate market are second homes.
“Our market has a lot of variables that are quite different,” said Daniel Webster Johnson, a broker associate at Resort Brokers Real Estate in Breckenridge. “When do you buy a new home in a second market — when things just start to get better, or a few years after?”
Leathers' recent “Real Estate at a Glance” columns in the Summit Daily indicate the average number of homes sold, average resale price and the average price of single-family homes have all improved since the economy hit, but still aren't back to early 2000 levels. 2011 ended with 1,288 total sales in Summit, an increase of 8.6 percent over 2010, while average sale prices for existing properties fell by 2.7 percent, a “major improvement” over 2010's decline of 14 percent.
The average sale price in 2011 for single-family homes was just under $800,000 compared to almost $1 million in 2009, and about $500,000 in 2000. Leathers said that prices “have effectively stopped falling at this point.” An increase of foreclosures would drive prices further down, but there's not enough right now for that to happen, he said.
Summit County Treasurer Bill Wallace said there are currently 13 foreclosures in the works, compared to 28 at the same time last year.
“If it's a trend, it's a nice trend,” Wallace said.
Webster Johnson said he's not sure prices are at a bottom. At the real estate conferences he attends, it seems there are “consistent increases across the rest of the markets.”
“That makes me think we're not at a bottom,” he said. “I like to joke that the Realtor community should have a parade down Main Street, Frisco when the prices bottom out.”
According to Leathers, there are a few homes for sale in Dillon Valley at 2005 prices: One-bedrooms at about $80,000 that were listed around $120,000-$130,000 a few years back, and a few single-family homes list for under $300,000, which he said is pretty good for Summit County.
“I do believe prices are at a good value now. Will they go down more? I don't know,” Webster Johnson said. “Where we're at in the cycle: it's a good value.”
The current number of real estate listings in Summit — under 1,700 — is the lowest it has been since 2007.
Lack of sellers, and buyers
In addition to homeowners opting to wait to sell, there is also a lower level of buyers wanting to purchase. But Leathers expects that to change soon: Buyers have been increasing about 10 percent a year for the past two years, he said. Sales last year started out pretty well and would have been better had news of the national debt not caused concern. This year, Leathers says property sales could increase 10-15 percent more over 2011, “if the economy stays OK.” “It's all about whether people feel like they have extra money,” he said.
