Winter High Country Market Update

Residential Update:

Year over year, 2021 was a strong year for real estate in the High Country.  While the number of homes sold last year was fewer than in 2020, sales volume and prices went up.  Two strong years of sales and the continuation of trends set after COVID has caused home inventory to drop to its lowest level in recorded history as far as we can tell.  

Today there are 257 homes for sale over our primarily 4 county market.  Sellers by far are continuing to dictate home values, although the pace may be leveling off some.  Rising interest rates may dictate some fluctuation, but there is still strong demand for relocation to our area.  

2022 will likely see some new construction homes come on the market, but not at the rate that we need to fill what is becoming a housing shortage.  The increase in prices has made it very challenging for local full-time residents who want to buy, and buyers are having to be very competitive with offers on most homes to secure them.  

For sellers, it is a fantastic time to sell.  While Winter is generally slower, sellers can take advantage of low inventory, which will likely go up seasonally in Spring/early Summer.  

Land Update:

With residential inventory very low, land is becoming more attractive for buyers.  Land inventory decreased around 10% since our fall update, but there are still almost 2100 land listings for sale in the market.

Other trends that are helping land are buyers who are thinking long-term about permanent or seasonal relocation.  There are buyers thinking about reaching retirement age in 5-10 years who are thinking about building long-term.  There are also people who are able to work remotely full time that are considering permanent relocation to the area. 

Building costs continue to be high and variable which challenges land, but with home values going up it becomes more reasonable to build.   In the past year, we sold 16 land listings, ranging from development lots to large acreage tracts.  We have had steady land activity this winter as well.
 

Best, -Nate & Kelsey Wright