Blog Archives: 2007

By Tim Estin mba, gri | Broker Associate |Mason Morse Real Estate Aspen | 970.920.7387 office June 1, 2007 (updated from original article in Mountain Business Journal, Dec 27, 2005) Locally, the past 3 1/2 years have been unprecedented in the Aspen/Roaring Fork Valley’s upward trajectory of real estate values. Prices are at record levels – although at any point in time in the past 50 years in Aspen they have been - and inventory is tight. Read More

By Tim Estin, Broker Associate / Mason Morse Real Estate Aspen / 970.920.7387 office June 1, 2007 (updated from original article in Mountain Business Journal, February 28th, 2006) The Aspen/Snowmass condo market is as hot as ever. If you are a visitor or an Aspen local thinking about a condominium purchase, here's some background and current market information. Summary – summer 2007: The focus of this article is on "middle market" condos which cost approximately $750,000 to $3,500,000 million. Read More

The Aspen/Snowmass condo market is as hot as ever. Read More

Locally, the past 3 1/2 years have been unprecedented Read More

The Set-up: Home prices in America have rocketed 45 percent higher than inflation since 1996 – creating five trillion dollars in wealth, according to the Center for Economic Policy Research. The Doomsday Scenario: The average home buyer cannot afford the average home. Inventories swell, prices sag. Five trillion dollars vanish – that’s $70,000 per family of four.  The Happy Ending: You’re in Aspen where the housing bubble is made of Kevlar.   Pickup a copy of the Wall Street Journal or Business Week these days and you’ll find economists peering through a miasma of contradictory figures to divine where the housing market is headed.  Mark Pasani, number cruncher and marketing director for Aspen’s Land Title Guarantee Company, has a n easy time reading his charts- they all point up.  Pasani reports that for Pitkin County, “A very strong October puts dollar volume up 15 percent for the year and up almost eight percent in the number of transactions.”   The picture nationwide, however, is not as rosy.  The National Association of Realtors (NAR) reports that existing home sales will fall 8.6 percent in 2006 from the previous year.  New home sales will fall 16.8 percent and housing starts 10.6 percent.   “Even as the national market cools, the real estate market here is cushioned by a national and global demand,” says Tim Estin, a broker for Mason & Morse who writes an occasional real estate market column for the Mountain Business Journal.  Estin, who also reports on local market trends on his Web site (www.EstinAspen.com), sees the richest of the rich driving most of the demand in Aspen.  “In 2006, there has been a surge in the sale of homes over $10 million,” he notes.  In 2004 and 2005 combined, there were only 12 listings in this category.  This year, there have been 36 such listings, and 12 of them have already sold.  “The sale of anything over $20 million is extremely rare, and we’ve had three such sales in the past few months,” continues Estin.   It’s worth noting that for more that thirty years, the Aspen housing market has weathered every storm; during periods of national recession, owners here – who tend to have deep pockets - pull properties off the market rather than discount.  Rod Woelfle, president of the Aspen Board of Realtors and the local chapter of the NAR, says, “Luxury markets – like Aspen or the Hamptons – are more isolated.”  “The main factor insulating the Aspen market is a formula of basic economics: supply and demand.  The supply of area homes is extraordinarily constrained. Ninety-two percent of Pitkin County is government land or otherwise protected,” notes Estin.   Read More

This article was originally published in the Mountain Business Journal, Jan 2, 2007. Locally, the past three years have been unprecedented in the Aspen/Roaring Fork Valley’s upward trajectory of real estate values. Prices are at record levels – although at any point in time in the past 50 years in Aspen they have been – and inventory is tight. The state of the housing market in much of the county may be gloomy but in the Roaring Fork Valley (Aspen, Basalt, Carbondale, Glenwood Springs) real estate values – and especially Aspen/Snowmass – continue to be strong with few, if any, signs of weakening and only isolated, property specific, areas of weakness. Along with a handful of other resorts, Aspen’s international credentials are unique. The real estate market here is cushioned by a global demand for the Aspen product – a sport, intellectual, and cultural mountain resort powerhouse that’s unmatched anywhere in the U.S. And there is a limited supply of properties here. There are many reasons for continued strong growth, and here are some national trends and more specific local trends and statistics directly impacting real estate in the Aspen area. Read More

By Tim Estin mba, gri / Broker Associate / Mason Morse Real Estate Aspen / 970.920.7387 office (Nov 2008 author's comment: lot values are down an estimated 10-20% since this article was written in '06. The current credit freeze has virtually shut down land sales and related financing. Where there have been isolated sales, prices are generally lower than those quoted in this article written during the record year in the Aspen real estate marketplace.) original article in Mountain Business Journal, March 21st, 2006) Land value drives real estate prices. And as vacant land in Aspen is almost impossible to find, much of the existing home stock built in the 1960’s through the ‘80’s becomes attractive to builders and developers for what lies beneath, not the structures themselves in spite of their apparent livability. This is not just an Aspen phenomenon. Most high end localities and resorts around the country are experiencing this ‘tear down land rush’ as well. Read More

Land value drives real estate prices. And as vacant land in Aspen is almost impossible to find, Read More