Despite all of 2020’s general weirdness and economic disruption, the local real estate market has flourished – particularly sales of residential properties and vacant land. Of the $174 million county-wide sales logged through the end of September by the CREN MLS, $143 million were homes and $15.5 million were land. Together they accounted for just over 90% of the total – with the remaining 10% being generated by farm / ranch and commercial sales. Nowhere in the county were home sales hotter than in the North Fork where the aggregate dollar volume is up a whopping 35% compared to the same period last year ($45M vs $33.3M). The frenetic pace has pushed up prices by 20%, and the new median home value is $300,000. Sales volume in the Surface Creek area rose an impressive 16% ($43.6M vs $37.5M) with the median value up 7% to $266,000, and the Delta area grew 18% ($54M vs $46M) while the median rose to $239,500. The influx of “newcomers” has been a driving force of the local market for years (myself included 20+ years ago), but the number of people moving here from the front range and beyond has never been higher. I think it’s fair to say that before this year more of them were retirees, but this wave has brought many new families to the area.
North Fork vacant land sales volume through September exploded, up 83% to $7M! The statistic was clearly boosted by the $1.7 million dollar sale of the 1000 acre former “hog farm” property between Hotchkiss and Austin, but even excluding it, the market was beyond brisk with 40 other transactions worth $5.3M ($171,000 avg.) compared to 36 totalling $3.8M in 2019. The Delta area dollar volume posted a solid gain also, up 50%, with the average sale ($145,000) DOUBLE what it was last year. On the flip-side, Surface Creek land sales declined slightly, and the average price held steady at eight-three thousand and change. There has been very little development of land (subdivision) over the past decade, and the county’s soon-to-be-adopted new land use / development regulations will not foster growth. With limitations on the “supply-side” while the “demand-side” continues to grow, prices are likely to continue their upward trend.
The COVID pandemic has been hard on many local businesses and, not surprisingly, on commercial sales too, down 52% in Surface Creek and -28% in the North Fork. The exception was in Delta where sales increased slightly, but the average price fell 69% to $219,000 – meaning there were a number of smaller / less expensive properties sold but no “big” ones. This statistic should also be taken with a grain of salt however because much of the commercial real estate market exchanges outside of the MLS and is beyond the scope of this article.
To say the least, it will be interesting to see how the election unfolds and the potential changes it might bring. As I said last month, lacking a crystal ball, we’ll just have to wait and see.