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Portfolio Aspen Properties brings you this recap of the Roaring Fork Valley real estate market in 2013.

Looking at the number of sales in Aspen, Snowmass and the Mid Valley, it appears we had a solid year with a mixed bag  in terms of the number of sales and price per square foot in the various markets.  There were 734 total residential sales with a sold value of $1,134,987,811 in 2013.  In 2012 the number of residential sales was 699 with a slight increase in sold value of $1,150,672,885.

Aspen

Single Family Homes

In terms of number of sales, the single family home market in Aspen was flat compared to 2013 with 89 sales in 2013 and 91 in 2012.  However, there was a 21% drop in the total sales volume.  The Land Title Report reflected a 14% decrease for the average price of a single family home (now $3,596,572) and an 18% decrease in the price of the median single family home (now $2,284,000).  This implies there is more activity in the lower priced homes and less activity for higher end properties.

The breakdown in sales are as follows: 5 sales in the downtown core, 14 in East Aspen, 6 in McLain Flats, 14 on Red Mountain, 5 on Smuggler and 31 in West Aspen for a total of 89.

Fifty homes sold in a price range of up to $5,000,000, 27 properties sold in the $5,000,000 to $10, 000,000 range and only 12 sales above $10,000,000.  Two adjacent parcels sold for the combined price of $41,000,000, which was the highest sale in 2013.

Condominiums

The condo market in Aspen was also flat in terms of number of sales but the sales price and volume both increased.  There were 101 sales in 2013 versus 98 in 2012 but the total volume was $135,551,063 versus $100,523,983 in 2012.  This is reflected in a higher average price per square foot went that from $900 to $1,004 in 2013.

Townhomes/Duplexes

In Aspen there were 23 townhomes/duplexes sold compared to only 15 in 2012—an increase of 35%.   There was an 11% increase in dollar volume, but the average price per square foot decreased from $1,024 to $937 in 2013.

Snowmass

For the last couple of years, the real estate market in Snowmass Village has been flat.  This year the number of sales for single family homes, townhomes/duplexes and condominiums all increased.  There were 30 single family homes sold compared to 26 in 2012 and the total sales volume increased by 35% to $115,352,000 versus $75,084,507 in 2012, however, the increase is mostly attributable to a $44 Million sale in Wildcat Ranch.  Price per square foot also increased to $670 versus $663 in 2012.

The largest increase in the number of sales is attributed to the condominium market.  There were 110 sales compared to only 49 in 2012.  This was mainly due to the volume of sales in the Viceroy, which sold 52 units.  The total dollar sales increased by 54%, and along with it the average price per square foot increased from $571 in 2012 to $665.

The number of townhome/duplex sales in Snowmass increased to 17 from 9 in 2012.  The total sales volume also experienced an increase of approximately 50%, however, the average price per square foot remained about the same at $624 compared to $625 in 2012.

Mid Valley

Conflicting values of Mid Valley real estate has been a big topic of conversation of late, but our numbers reflect that perhaps with the lower number of short sales and foreclosures that the price per square foot for single family homes in Basalt increased from $251 in 2012 to $272 in 2013.  The micro-market around the $400,000 mark had a lot of activity, with a larger market of buyers and bidding wars in some instances.

When we analyzed the single family home sales in Basalt, Carbondale and Missouri Heights, we found there were 75 sales up to $500,000, 73 properties in the $500,000 to $800,000 price range, 13 in the $800,000 to $1 million range, 16 in the $1 million to $2 million range and only 4 sales above $2 million.  Here is our data on the following Mid Valley areas.

Old Snowmass/Woody Creek

In the Old Snowmass and Woody Creek areas there were 15 sales in 2013 vs. 13 in 2012, however, the total sales volume decreased significantly.  The total dollar sales volume went from $34,710,125 in 2012 to $17,975,895 in 2013. The average price per square foot also suffered a significant decrease from $586 in 2012 to $378 in 2013.

Basalt

The number of single family home sales went from 97 in 2012 to only 68 in 2013.  For example, there were 4 sales in Elk Run versus 7 in 2012 and 14 in Willits versus 25 in 2012.  There were 20 condominium sales in 2013 versus 30 in 2012.  However, the average price per square foot increased by 11% from $253 to $285 in 2013.

Similarly, the townhome/duplex market saw a decrease in sales from 33 to 24 in 2013. However, the average price per square foot increased from $198 to $237.

Carbondale

In Carbondale there were 81 single family homes sales versus 115 in 2012—a 30% drop.  Blue Lake contributed 24 sales to that number, the same in 2012. River Valley Ranch saw a decrease of 3 from 21 to 18 in 2013.  There was a sharper decrease in the number of sales in Aspen Glen—from 24 in 2012 to 17 in 2013.

The condo market in Carbondale was flat with 26 sales in 2013 and 24 in 2012. However the sales volume increased by approximately 51% from $4,117,599 in 2012 to $8,404,400 in 2013.  The average price per square foot also experienced a steep jump up to $214 from $142 in 2012.

There was a slight increase in the number of sales for townhomes/duplexes in Carbondale, which went from 26 in 2012 to 33 in 2013.  There was a 21% increase in the number of properties sold, but the price per square foot actually decreased from $192 in 2012 to $181.  This is one of the few products in the Mid Valley that actually decreased in terms of price per square foot.

Land Sales

There were 29 land sales in Aspen, Snowmass and Woody Creek, with a low of $575,000 and a high of $5,250,000.  This is a small decrease from the 37 land sales in 2012, but still more than the dismal 11 of 2011.  With no new inventory, spec builders are coming back into the market, so we suspect a good amount of these land sales are building spec as well as end users building homes because they are not finding new product in the market.  Note these numbers do not take into account “tear down” homes that were purchased for land value only.

Looking Ahead

Thus far, the real estate market is off to a slow start in 2014.  The table below shows the number of sales and total dollar volume compared to the same time last year.  Notwithstanding, 2014 should be another healthy year with similar numbers to 2013, prices stabilizing, and the number of foreclosures and short sales continuing to decrease.  Prices have adjusted to reflect current market value after the large fluctuations over the past decade.  With the amount of land sales in 2012 and 2013, we should start to see a few spec homes come onto the market.