Steamboat Springs Market Report August 2012

As the first snow came to Steamboat this week, so too did the Real Estate numbers. August was a mixed month for real estate in Steamboat Springs, Colorado with 138 transactions and $43.4 million in sales. Take a look at the Steamboat Springs Market Report for July 2012 for some additional comparisons. Year to date stats for dollar volume put us up by 4.27% and interval/fractional sales were also up, with 56 transactions occurring in August, but overall, year-to date transaction numbers were down by nearly 17%. Even with the mixed numbers, however, there were still quite a few bright spots in the August numbers.

Single family residential homes, specifically those in the $300K to 500K range, were the hottest items on the menu again in August. We’re even seeing multiple offer on some properties. With transaction numbers at 15 for this price range, sales in this area accounted for almost a quarter of the total transaction numbers for Residential Improved Units in August. Residential units priced at less than $200K were the next most sought after.

Another positive indicator for the health of our local real estate market this month was the number of bank sales in the area. Bank sales in Routt County was down significantly as compared to July’s numbers with only 8 of these transactions occuring during the month.

Bank owned properties for sale:

2011 = Average 47
2012 – Average 28

Short Sale properties for sale:

2011 – Average 41
2012 – Average 4

This means that not only are we continuing to move through the glut of inventory of distressed properties in the area, but also that as we do, prices will continue to stabilize.

In order to provide you with an even better picture of what the market’s been up to so far in 2012, let’s compare some more numbers for the last couple of months.

– July: Active Listings = 1935 / Sold = 50 / pending sales 130

– August: Active Listings = 1874 / Sold = 58 /pending sales 136

– Today: Active Listings = 1859 / Sold = 59 / Pending sales = 141

The trend over the last 8 months has been for the number of active listings to continually decrease, while closed and pending transactions have both increased. And with mortgage rates at record lows, this trend should continue. This is all very good news!

With the numbers continuing to show a consistent decrease in inventory and a consistent increase in sales/pending sales, it looks like slow and steady will continue to be the path for this market recovery for the time being.

Case-Shiller is showing national trends are positive as well.