August sees blowout numbers

August produced the highest monthly dollar volume of Summit County real estate sales in nearly 5 years. Sales for the month totaled $105.5 million up 53% from a year ago and last exceeded by $118.2 million in sales in October of 2008. Unit volume was also strong with 216 transactions up 36% from August of 2012. Excepting the unusually strong October of 2012, that is the highest number of sales since December of 2007 which saw 220 transactions.
Year to date, transactions are running 25% ahead of last year and dollar volume is up 22%.
Sales for the month were notably strong in the $1-1.5 million price range with 14 sales or 7.7% of the total transactions for the month. Year to date, that price point has been running around 5.4% of all transactions. However the $1.5-2.5 million range, normally about 2% of sales, failed to register a purchase. Overall, the lower end of the market continues to dominate the volume with 65% of the transactions registering at less than $500,000.
Average selling prices (ASPs) for single family residences are fairly stable at $770,858 year-to-date versus $764,455 for all of last year. Multi-family pricing is down slightly at an average of $342,417 versus $353,339 in 2012. Vacant land ASPs are up for the year at $347,101 vs $309,512 but the sample size remains too low for that number to be particularly significant. For the month, there were 10 land sales, that is about in line with last years rate and up some from the 2009-2011 time frame but still way below the 35-40 monthly transactions we saw in 2006.
Comparing prices across the county, we find the highest price per square foot in Breckenridge at $391. That high number reflects some premium for Breck over other markets but also is influenced by the high number of condo units which typically sell at higher square foot prices. Blue River and Frisco come in with the next highest prices at $317 and $318 respectively. Keystone prices average around $307 a square foot while Silverthorne and the Wildernest area generate just over $250 per square foot. The least expensive pricing is found in Dillon Valley at $186 and Farmer’s Corner at $147.
Foreclosure activity was down