As the second quarter draws to a close, it appears the
While total sales throughout the resort area, including condos, townhomes and mountain homes, are going up, buyers aren’t going for the expensive homes this year, which is a trend that may last at least through the 2016 election, some real estate experts predict.
There were a total of 20 residential sales in the resort area from January through the end of May 2015, compared to 38 through the end of May this year. Though sales have nearly doubled to date compared to 2015, the median sales price this year, at $208,000, is almost $100,000 less than last year.
Most sales so far in 2016 have been units in Cascade Village and at the Purgatory lodge condominiums, which tend to be less expensive.
Of the units sold in Cascade Village this year, a buyer paid $259,000 on the high end and $90,000 on the low end. Four Purgatory lodge condos have sold, all for under $100,000.
Heather Erb has worked in the real estate market 14 years and has been with Durango Mountain Realty since August and said condos are a transitory piece of real estate for resort buyers.
“Many times with the lodge, that’s how buyers are introduced with ownership in the resort area,” she said. “Buyers right now are looking for a combination of things. They’re looking for luxury homes but in the right setting and with the right values.”
Erb said the shift in price range and buyer demand can be attributed to several factors.
“Energy prices, the election – especially this one – and economic angst have all contributed to the choices people have made in the purchase pattern,” Erb said. “There are buyers who really want to own something, but they want it to be something they feel is a valuable property that rents well, so there is no downside for them. They’re buying but choosing a different product.”
In terms of demographics, resort buyers are a mix of retirees and second-home buyers from cities like Austin, Texas, Albuquerque and Phoenix. Erb said the resort is seeing fewer buyers coming from big oil and gas development cities like Houston, keeping with a pattern that started about two years ago when energy industry workers saw the writing on the wall and began moving out of the Durango area.
How fast the resort homes are selling is unclear, because resort homes are often temporarily pulled from the market during slow seasons.
Comparing yearly data from the Durango Area Association of Realtors, both mountain homes as well as condos and townhomes saw a decrease in units sold and median price from 2014 to 2015, unlike in Durango and Bayfield, where prices and units sold either spiked or stayed about the same. There was a 31 percent decrease in mountain homes sold and a 10 percent decrease in condos sold.
“We’ll have to wait and see,” Erb said of the remaining year. “We’re prepared for a busy summer season but also realize the election is in full swing, which creates uncertainty that tends to affect the market.”
jpace@durangoherald.com
