The real estate picture in La Plata County appears to have brightened, with the number of home sales up and the medianprice inching upward. The Durango Area Association of Realtors on Monday released year-end numbers for 2009, which include statistics for thefourth quarter.
Durango home sales rose 61.9 percent during the fourth quarter, from 21 a year ago to 34 in 2009. The median priceincreased 1.2 percent, from $382,900 to $387,450.
And the upward trend appears to be here to stay - at least for a little while, said Don Ricedorff, president of theassociation. Already this month, 19 homes have sold and 78 are under contract in La Plata County, Ricedorff said.
“It looks like it's going to continue for a while," Ricedorff said. “This doesn't look like a flash in the pan for thelast quarter; it looks like it's continuing on into the first quarter."
It appears the local real estate market bottomed out between October 2008 and March 2009 - especially between Januaryand March, said Gina Piccoli, owner-broker at Coldwell Banker Heritage House Realtors.
There are four times as many homes under contract now as there were this time last year in La Plata County, she said.Many first-time homebuyers have taken advantage and continue to take advantage of the economic slump to enter themarket, Piccoli said.
“That was really good for our area," she said.
The strong fourth quarter numbers helped balance an otherwise dismal year in La Plata County real estate.
For the year, the median home price in Durango fell 3.4 percent compared with 2008, from $392,450 to $379,000. Thenumber of transactions declined 23.8 percent, from 126 to 96.
Durango country homes took a 13.4 percent drop in median price, from $439,000 to $380,000. The number of transactionsfor country homes declined 7.8 percent, from 179 to 165.
But during the fourth quarter, the number of country homes sold increased 57.9 percent and median price increasedtwo-tenths of a percent.
Durango condos bucked the trend with the median prices up 14.6 percent, from $231,215 to $265,000 for the year. Buttransactions were down 52.3 percent, from 195 to 93 units sold for the year.
Ricedorff said the local real estate market has been in a decline since 2005, and eventually things were bound to turnaround. He cited several factors that have helped, including:b A federal tax credit of up to $8,000 for first-time homebuyers.
b Interest rates have been low for several years.
b A recognition by homebuyers that the local housing market has hit bottom, and they're starting to look for deals.
“It was good news to move through some of the inventory and help people transition through their lives," Ricedorff saidof the fourth-quarter statistics.
