Today we will continue to update the 2011 Jackson Hole Real Estate Market with Average Sales Prices.  The Chart below does a comparision on Average Sales Price vs. the Prior Year Average Sales Price.  As you can see, the average prices for property sales in Jackson Hole, Wyoming have been lower in 2011 in 10 (to be clear the “Red bars” are for 2011 and “Blue bars” are for 2010) of the last 11 months.  The exception was December 2011 when we saw a few very large transactions take place.  We have seen a lot of sales (to be outlined in a future blog post) in the “below $850,000 range” which have had an influence on Average Sales Price.

Average Prices Graph

We are going to start a series of blog posts that hopefully create a pattern that we can look back on and see if we were right.  Christy and I believe that there could not be a better time to buy real estate in Jackson Hole.  There are excellent values in all price ranges and we believe the amount of inventory allows buyers some good choices.  With that said we do believe a lot of the great properties that have been offered at reduced prices are starting to get purchased and that inventory is going down.  I saw this video yesterday which is from Barbara Corcoran – a real estate “expert” – that outlines some of the reasoning behind buying now and or selling right now.  Take a look.

Stay tuned as we will be posting quite a bit of information that we feel will be important moving forward into the 2012 real estate sales year here in Jackson Hole.  For additional information on real estate or anything else Jackson Hole please feel free to call us at 307-413-5243 or email us at garth.gillespie@jhsir.com.

Novemeber 2011 has come and gone here in the Jackson Hole Real Estate Market and we witnessed a pretty strong month when looking at the year as a whole.  There were 31 transactions last month — No quite the 13780 properties that sell every day in the United States but Jackson does contribute!  “How’s the Jackson Hole Real Estate Market?” — Well, “We sell a property every day!” 

In a couple of weeks we will be able to show you a graph of how we measure up when comparing Nov. 2010 to Nov. 2011 but in a nutshell, last year we had about $10 million more in sales volume but transactions were 16% lower.  November 2011 saw a median sales price of about $550,000.  This is quite low indicating a stronger low end market.  This is encouraging in my eyes as we are really starting to see the lower end market strengthen.  This of course is being generated by a few short sales, bank sales and realistic sellers.  1/3 of the market in Novemeber sold for under $400,000.

The higher end market saw some good signs too as we saw 2 transactions of about $7 million.  The Jackson market had 9 sales over $1 million. 

Other stats:  3 vacant land transactions, 5 condo transactions in Teton Village, 10 sales in the Town of Jackson.

Please call with any questions or if you need any additional information on the Jackson Hole Real Estate Market — Garth Gillespie, sales associate and partner of the Gillespie Real Estate Team – Jackson Hole Sotheby’s, 307-413-5243 or email at garth.gillespie@jhsir.com. 

The first half of the year, the Jackson Hole real estate market experienced a slight improvement in sales dollar volume, but saw a significant increase in unit sales, suggesting that more transactions are happening in Teton County, but at lower sales prices.

Through June 2011, closed real estate transations in the Jackson Hole area were up 28% compared with the same period in 2010, while dollar volume sales rose improved only slightly. However, both unit sales and dollar volume were well above the lows of the real estate market in 2009 – unit sales up 96% and sales volume up 114%. Click here to view graph

June has proven to be the best month in 2011 for real estate sales dollar volume. In the month of June in Teton County, there were 29 transactions totaling $36.5 million. Compare this to the previous month of May (typically a slow month in real estate out here), where sales volumn totaled only $12 million.  Click here for a graph

Real Estate Sales by Area:

North of Town has seen the largest improvement in sales volume, with a 48% increase over the first half of 2010. North of the Town of Jackson includes neighborhoods such as Owl Creek, Solitude, Bar-B-Bar Meadows, Jackson Hole Golf & Tennis and Moulton Ranches. There were 23 sales totaling $46 million through June 2011.  South of Jackson Hole also experienced an increase in sales volume with sales totaling $21 million, a 28% increase over the first half of 2010. Teton Village experienced the largest increase in real estate transactions, with a whopping 81% increase over 2010. There were 38 sales in the first half of 2011, with many of the sales happening in the condo and condo-hotel market in Teton Village. Many investors took advantage of low prices on bank owned and foreclosed condos, in order to have a place located walking distance to Jackson Hole Mountain Resort.

For more information contact The Gillespie Real Estate Team at 307-739-8056 or garth.gillespie@jhsir.com.

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.

First quarter results for the Jackson Hole Real Estate Market show encouraging trends. Teton County has experienced a slight increase in sales volume, and over 57% increase in units sold for the first quarter of 2011 vs. Q1 in 2010. This is a positive indicator for potentially continued improvement in the market.

Teton County Multiple Listing Service (MLS) also shows a significant increase (over 85%) of units sold in the under $1 million segment.  In the above $1 million segment, MLS reports a 23% increase in units sold in Q1 2011 over Q1 in 2010. Regarding dollar volume of sales, overall in Teton County, Q1 2011 is 12% above 2010. As such, the overall average sales price is down to $1.176 million in Q1 2011 due to the increase in volume in the middle market (under $1m.

Buyers in Jackson Hole are taking advantage of opportunities in the middle market in addition to the high-end market, which has already shown signs of stabilization in 2011. Please contact The Gillespie Real Estate Team at 307-739-8078 to learn about these great opportunties in Jackson Hole real estate.

According to the Teton County MLS, real estate sales volume in the 4th quarter of 2010 was up from the same 4th quarter in 2009.  Sales Volume increased to approx. $100 million in Teton County, compared to approx. $85 million in 2009. Unit volume (i.e. properties sold) has rebounded from the 2008 lows, however they remain well below pre-recession levels.  Units sold in the 4th quarter of 2008 was a low of approx. 50 units; 4th quarter 2009 saw about 85 units sold and 2010 experienced 80 units sold.

On a year over year basis, 4th quarter 2010 was disappointing. All other quarters for 2010 showed improvement from the same quarter in 2009, except 4th quarter, which saw units sales drop 6.3%. However, 2011 is off to a good start and The Gillespie Real Estate Team is optimistic that 2011 will bring increased sales to Teton County, Wyoming.

According to the Multiple Listing Service (MLS), Teton County real estate sales volume is on track with 2004 and 2008 sales volume levels. Through Feb 2011, there have been 43 real estate sales reported in the MLS in Teton County, which includes Jackson, Wilson, Teton Village, Hoback Junction and Alpine. Total sales volume in this period is $58.1 million. This is a 38% improvement over the same period in 2010, where there were only 22 sales and $44.5 million in sales volume through the months of January and February.  While the first two months of 2011 are will above the ‘bottom’ of 2009, which only had 8 sales totaling $9.7 million, but still below the ‘peak’ of 2006, which saw 92 sales in the first two months of the year totaling $86 million.  

Along with an increase in real estate sales volume, the number of real estate transactions in teh first two months of the year in Teton County doubled from the first two months of 2010.  Of the 21 sales in February alone, Jackson Hole Sotheby’s International Realty had a 33% market share in Teton County. For more information, including graphs, please contact The Gillespie Real Estate Team at Sotheby’s International Realty at 307-739-8078.

February 2011 was a very active month in real estate sales in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. Overall, this month we saw 16 real estate sales in the Jackson Hole area, with most sales concentrated in Teton Village and Wilson, WY. Total real estate sales volume for the month topped $27 million, with an average sale price of just over $2 million. On average properties were selling at 85% of thier latest listing price and, on average, were on the market for 245 days prior to selling.

It appears the record snowfall at Jackson Hole Mountain Resort, encouraged many buyers to purchase condos, condohotels and homes in Teton Village this winter. Of the 16 total real estate sales in the area, 1/2 of them were near the ski resort. These sales covered a wide range of properties and price points  – a 2 week fractional sold at the Teton Club, a 1 bedroom condohotel at Snake River Lodge and Spa and a 3 bedroom condohotel at Teton Mountain Lodge sold this February. There were also 2 sales of condominiums in the Nez Perce condo and the Teewinot building. These condos are a short walk or shuttle ride from the Aerial Tram at Jackson Hole Mountain Resort.   A 2 bedroom unit at the Four Seasonsand a 3 bedroom unit at Crystal Springs also sold, both with ski-in, ski-out access. A large home in Lake Creek Ranch and the end of Granite Creek Road across from Teton Village sold in early February.

Wilson also saw several sales this past month including a home in Stilson Ranch, a home in Crescent H Ranch and large home with a horse stable in Wilson. There were twp sales in Town - a 2 bedroom Ponderosa condo that was listed at $99,900 and a Love Ridge Condo at the base of Snow King Resort. The largest sale of the month was a 10,000 square foot, 5 bedroom home in Spring Creek Ranch that was listed at $9,500,000.

The Gillespie Real Estate Team of Jackson Hole Sotheby’s International Realty is always tracking the real estate market in Jackson Hole. We’d be happy to share our market knowledge, insight and experience – just give us a call at 307-739-8078.

In 2011, we have seen an increase in real estate activity in Teton Village.  In the past 20 days, there have been two closed sales in Teton Village. Both real estate sales were condos located at the base of Jackson Hole Mountain Resort. A 2 bedroom, 2 bath, bank owned, condo sold in mid January. The other sale happened this past weekend – a 3 bedroom, 2 bath penthouse condo in the Nez Perce Condominium Building.

 Additionally, there are currently 15 properties under contract in Teton Village. Seven of those were put under contract in the new year!  They include a wide range of property types. Four of the sales are condominiums within walking distance to the Jackson Hole ski resort. There is one unit under contract in the Snake River Lodge & Spa and a 2 bedroom unit in the Four Seasons – both ski-in, ski-out properties. There is also a 3 bedroom Timbers at Granite Ridge currently under contract.

While the above properties are spoken for, there are still many real estate opportunities in Teton Village. In fact, there are 85 properties for sale in a wide range of price ranges - a condo hotel for $299,000,  a 2-bedroom condominium for $445,000, a 4 bedroom vacation home for $3 million and a Four Seasons Penthouse Residence for $6 million.

The Gillespie Real Estate Team can easily guide you through these real estate opportunities and help you to find the perfect winter getaway in Jackson Hole. Call us today at 307-739-8078 for a list of all available properties in Teton Village.