2021 AT A GLANCE
In 2021, real estate in Routt County continued chugging along on its run of epic proportions. The ongoing pandemic kept fueling buyer demand as more and more people looked to own real estate in the Yampa Valley. Half of the buyers were existing locals or those who were able to move here full-time due to location-neutral jobs. The other half purchased vacation homes, seeking a respite from life outside of Steamboat. Sellers often received multiple offers, many above asking price; on average, sellers received 99.6% of their listing price.
Curiously, despite rapidly appreciating property values, many would-be sellers seemed content to let the market appreciate; this resulted in all-time low listing inventory. Some potential sellers were optimistic that there would be ongoing appreciation while others were challenged to buy elsewhere amidst a nationwide surge in home values and dearth of inventory. In Routt County, we had 98 listings going into 2021 and we entered 2022 with a paltry 71 offerings.
2021 eclipsed the record-breaking statistics of 2020. Routt County closed out the year with over $1.4B in sales volume, an increase of 31% over 2020. The average price of residential properties in Steamboat Springs went up by 24% to $630K, following 2020’s very healthy price appreciation of 18%. Single-family homes in Steamboat city limits saw the biggest spike, increasing by an astounding 38%, with the average price now just over $2M. This price appreciation was fueled by the luxury market, with 62 transactions of homes above $2.5M, almost double that of 2020.
Neighboring towns also reaped the benefits of an escalating housing market. The average price of a single-family home in Oak Creek reached $735K and in Hayden the average price is now $449K. With soaring building costs, the sale of raw land was also hot, with 519 closings in 2021, an increase of 47% over 2020. With so much demand, it is easy to see why building permits remained strong in 2021, with 986 building permits issued county-wide.
With workers sporadically returning to the office in 2021, the commercial market is also making a recovery. There were only 45 commercial transactions county-wide in 2020, but a healthy increase to 65 transactions in 2021. Although only anecdotal, the commercial market seems to lag residential home sales by about 6-12 months. If that’s true, commercial transactions should be hot in the coming year.
If we learned anything in 2021, it’s that we cannot predict the future. With meager inventory, continued low interest rates (even if they go up), and the seemingly-permanent changes that the pandemic has brought, 2022 is looking to be yet another healthy year.
Click here for details