February 2012 Update Aspen-Snowmass Real Estate
April 17, 2012
AnneAdare’s Take
February 2012 Update Aspen-Snowmass Real Estate
The February real estate market in Pitkin county was somewhat challenged. In the Aspen-Snowmass area, total volume, numbers of transactions and mean prices do not seem to have bottomed out. Although nationwide, February fared a bit better, there is still an overall continuation of an uneven but higher sales patterns. There is an overhang of supply, as banks are yet to offload the vast accumulation of distressed properties they hold on balance sheets. This could push prices even lower. Most analysts argue that prices probably won’t begin to tick up until 2013.
It’s not all gloom and doom on the national level, though, as green shoots have sprung. Home-building, for example, has picked-up. Despite a decline in February, starts went on their strongest six-month stretch since the second half of 2003, rising at a double-digit year-on-year rate from last September to this February.
On a national level, second-home sales in the US during 2011 reached their highest level since 2005 to 1.72 million homes sold, according to a survey done in March by National Association of Realtors. Aspen-Snowmass may very well follow suit. As the suppressed market for second homes rebounds, the rising pool of vacation homeowners in their 40s and 50s may want to take advantage of affordable prices that have not been seen in this area for years. The pent up demand may be released with more positive signs in the economy, decreasing unemployment and gains in the stock market. As I tell my clients, 2012 could very well go down as the “woulda, coulda, shoulda” years, where in restrospect, it will have proven to have been an optimal year to buy in Aspen-Snowmass.
“While geopolitical and global economic events could change the forecast going forward, what we see in this survey is confidence that the U.S. real estate economy has weathered the brunt of the recent financial storm and is poised for significant improvement over the next three years. These results hold much promise for the real estate industry.” Patrick L. Phillips, Urban Land Institute Executive Officer
With respect to our Aspen-Snowmass area, I think that this summer will be the litmus test for our market as to whether we can return to more balanced market.
Final statistics for March, 2012 will be released at the end of April at which time I will send out my monthly update.
Please feel free to forward this to your friends or colleagues who may have an interest.
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