Summit County’s market-rate housing inventory continues to grow — yet it hasn’t been enough to make a dent in stubbornly high prices.

Between January and June of this year, the number of new home listings in the county was 365, a 46% increase from that same time in 2023, according to a new market report from the Colorado Association of Realtors. 

Final sale figures continue to come in lower than a home’s initial listing price, which experts say could be an indication that buyers have more options and, in turn, more negotiating power. 

But at the same time, prices continue to surge. Through June of this year, average single-family home prices increased 25% compared to the same timeframe in 2023, rising from $1.9 million to $2.4 million. Average multifamily home prices, which include condos and townhomes, increased by 6.5%, rising from $823,000 to $877,000.

For industry experts, it challenges the basic philosophy of supply and demand. 

“We’ve had historically low inventory and then this year, this spring, it started to go back up,” said Summit County Realtor Dishon Lutz. “But despite us seeing some spikes in inventory, we haven’t seen that softening of (price) numbers. Maybe it’s a little bit early in the race.”

Brokers have long pointed to a lack of housing supply as a key driver of higher prices. In mountain resort areas like Summit, however, the correlation can be muddled by other factors including a large share of cash buyers that keep multimillion-dollar properties in demand. In June, 47% of all transactions in the county were in cash, according to Realtor market data. 

“When I see our sales numbers are down, and our prices are up, I really go back to, ‘What’s selling?” said Summit County Realtor and President-elect of the Colorado Association of Realtors Dana Cottrell. “And what is selling is our $1 million and over properties.”

Of the 693 current total listings in Summit County, 37% are for homes below $1 million. Of the total sales in June, 40 transactions were for homes over $1 million while 38 were for homes priced under $1 million, Cottrell said.

According to a report by Land Title Guarantee Company, the first quarter of 2024 saw a record number of residential closings, 54%, over $1 million.

“Normally, I would say the higher the price, the smaller the buyer pool,” Cottrell said. “(Yet) it’s not playing out with our current economic world.”

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Part of the reason could be because of buyers waiting to see if they can get a more affordable mortgage. Despite signals late last year that the U.S. Federal Reserve may lower interest rates in 2024, rates continue to hover at a more than 20-year high, which translates to larger payments on mortgages to car payments to credit cards. For those who need to mortgage their home, the wait for lower rates continues. 

Still, the increase in housing inventory has shifted more power to buyers who, during the pandemic-era years of 2021 and 2022, faced a seller’s market dominated by limited listings with brief windows. 

In June, home sellers received 96.8% of their listing price, down from 98.8% the year prior. While not enough to affect market prices, the small dip could point to more ability for buyers to bargain. 

For much of 2021 and 2022, the sale price figure “never dropped below 100% of listing, because the market was so fast moving,” Lutz said. “Now, we’re starting to see that not everything that gets listed the consumer is willing to pay.”

Homebuyers in 2024  are “doing more due diligence, being more patient about what they’re buying,” which Lutz said is fostering “more of a balanced story.”

And it’s too soon for experts to say how 2024 will end the year for home prices. Last year was the first year to see single-family home prices decline since before the pandemic, if only by 0.7% compared to the year before. 

“Ultimately, we’re looking for a balanced market, and we’re closer to that than we have been in years,” Lutz said.