January Calendar of Events

• 1st               New Year's Day 2014
• 5th-11th      Ullr Fest in Breckenridge
• 9th-11th      14th Annual Big Beers, Belgians & Barleywines
• 17th             Arches of Gore Creek
• 20th             Martin Luther King Day
• 23rd-26th    Beaver Creek Food & Wine Festival

Deal of the Month

Vail International 208

$749,999

MLS 918978

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2 bedroom/ 1.75 bath

994 sq ft

December Calendar of Events

• 6th-8th                    Audi's Birds of Prey World Cup
• 7th                          Minturn Winter Market
• 9th-15th                  Vail SnowDaze
• 13th                         Rebelution 
• 14th                         Big Head Todd and the Monsters
• 14th                         Minturn Winter Market
• 15th                         Disco Skate Night
• 19th-20th                Family FunFest
• 20th-22nd                Vail Holidaze
• 21st                         Winterfest at Beaver Creek Begins
• 25th                         Christmas
• 30th                         Neil Berg's 100 Years of Broadway
• 31st                         Beaver Creek New Year's Eve Family Carnival
• 31st                         Vail New Year's Eve Celebration

Vail Valley real estate has best month in September

From the Vail Daily

By the numbers:

$7.15 million: September’s most expensive sale, in Beaver Creek.

8: Sales of homes priced at more than $4 million.

157: Total sales in September.

6: Bank sales in September, down from 15 in August.

Source: Land Title Guarantee Company

 For much of this year, local real estate sales stories have had at least some variation of, “transactions are up,
 but dollar volume is down from last year. September turned that sentence on its head.

Eagle County real estate sales in September — the last month for which numbers are available from Land Title Guarantee Co. — were actually down a bit from the same period in 2012. There were 175 total sales in September of 2012, and 157 for the same period this year. The difference is in price. Those sales this year added up to $151.3 million, an 8 percent increase over September of 2012. The difference in that dollar volume came in large part from sales of very expensive homes — $4 million and more. There were eight such sales in September, which accounted for nearly one-third of the total sales volume for the month. Those eight sales also made up a significant portion of the 33 total sales of $4 million or more through the first nine months of the year. While September’s dollar volume was an improvement over 2012, the sales volume so far for the year is still less than the sales through September of 2012 — albeit by just 2 percent. And as is usually the case in the Vail Valley market, homes priced at $1 million or less make up the vast majority of transactions — 74 percent in September. But those sales accounted for 34 percent of the dollar volume.

Bank sales declining

The good news for the lower end of the market — $500,000 and less — is that various kinds of bank sales, from foreclosures to short sales, keeps declining. In 2012, bank sales made up nearly 20 percent of all transactions. In September, there were only six such sales, down from 15 in August. As you’d expect, many of the 157 September sales — 32 — were in the primarily residential areas of Eagle and Gypsum. There were 13 sales in Avon. But there were 39 total sales from East Vail to Intermountain.

Eagle County home buyers are primarily from Colorado — 62 percent. A regional report from Land Title that covers Eagle, Summit, Pitkin, Grand, Garfield and Routt counties shows in-state clients make up about 60 percent of all clients.

Of the remaining regional buyers, just more than 1 percent are from other countries. In Eagle County, 3 percent of all buyers were from international markets. While real estate seems to be improving across the spectrum, the business still remains below the pre-recession rocket ride it was on.

New, State-of-the-Art Snowmaking Compressors at Vail and Beaver Creek

VAIL, Colo. – Oct. 30, 2013 – Thanks to the installation of new, highly-efficient snowmaking compressors at Vail and Beaver Creek, both resorts anticipate a combined energy savings of approximately 3.3 million kWh or the equivalent amount of energy used by more than 300 U.S. homes in one year compared to the previous snowmaking compressors.

The new compressors are an integral component to the snowmaking systems at Vail and Beaver Creek as compressed air is vital to the snowmaking process. At both resorts the new compressors will push air through underground snowmaking pipes to snowmaking locations across the mountains, where the air will then be used to propel water through the snow guns and into the atmosphere in order to make snow. A single new compressor at Vail will replace eight old compressors, and Beaver Creek’s new compressor will replace seven.  In addition to making the snowmaking system more efficient, these modern compressors will build on providing the highest quality snow surfaces for skiers and snowboarders.

Vail, Beaver Creek and Holy Cross Energy worked closely together on this initiative, which contributed to the creation of a new rebate program for similar large, custom commercial energy reduction projects. The project and partnership truly shows Vail Resorts and Holy Cross’ commitment to increased efficiency and energy reduction. This joint project will help Holy Cross Energy achieve 10 percent of its five-year energy efficiency goal.

“The compressor replacements at Vail and Beaver Creek are a great example of how we can work together with our community partners as well as a significant step in Vail Resorts’ new companywide energy reduction goal, ‘The Next 10,’ which aims to cut our company’s energy usage by an additional 10 percent by 2020,” said Chris Jarnot, senior vice president and chief operating officer for Vail Mountain.

In late 2008, Vail Resorts set out to reduce its energy use by 10 percent and in early 2012, the company surpassed its target goal. Through a continuous focus on energy conservation, Vail Resorts was able to reduce its electricity and natural gas usage by 10.75 percent through more efficient operations. The Next 10 Percent energy reduction goal for 2020 includes efforts such as reassessing operational efficiencies, examining ways to improve snowmaking, increasing building automation, investing in free cooling and LED lighting upgrades, and implementing additional energy efficient technologies.

Beaver Creek’s new compressor is up and running for the resort’s snowmaking operations as weather permits, including snowmaking on Beaver Creek’s new signature ladies race course, Raptor. The course will field competition Nov. 29 through Dec. 1 and serve as the ladies speed course for the 2015 World Alpine Ski Championships. Beaver Creek opens for the season on Wednesday, Nov. 27.

Vail’s new compressor will be ready to turn on as early as Nov. 1 for snowmaking operations across the front side of the mountain in preparation for the public on opening day, Friday, Nov. 22.

November Calendar of Events

• 1st                 Keystone Opening Day
• 3rd                Nora Jane Struthers & the Party Line
• 8th                 Breckenridge Opening Day
• 10th               David Wilcox
• 22nd              Vail Opening Day
• 27th               Beaver Creek Opening Day
• 27th               Beaver Creek Chocolate Chip Cookie Competition
• 28th               Thanksgiving
• 29th               10th Annual Gingerbread House Competition
• 29th               33rd Annual Beaver Creek Tree Lighting
• 29th-Dec 1st  Nature Valley Ladies World Cup

July real estate sales show strength in Eagle County

From the Vail Daily:

EAGLE COUNTY — The Vail Valley real estate market had started to lag before the world’s economy fell apart in 2008, but it was still the last of the “good years.”

For at least one month, though, and depending on where you looked, the valley’s real estate market     looked like the good years were back.

Back On Track

The most recent sales numbers from Land Title Guarantee Co. showed July sales finally back up to the levels seen in 2008. In July of this year, there were 190 sales, which together added up to $122.9 million in “dollar volume.”

While those numbers rival the ones posted in 2008, they’re miles better than the numbers posed in 2009, the year the economic slump really hit the valley. That year, the July sales figures were 75 units sold for $59.6 million.

As is usually the case in local real estate, the volume in July came overwhelmingly from property priced at $1 million or less. That part of the market accounted for 84 percent of all transactions and was right at half of the dollar volume. A substantial number of those sales were in Eagle and Gypsum, which accounted for one-third of all sales in July.

‘A Normalized Market’

Craig Denton, of Ascent Sotheby’s International Realty in Vail, has been selling real estate in the valley for more than 30 years. Denton said the numbers so far this year indicate a “normalized” market.

“We’re back in a user market — a lifestyle market,” Denton said.

On the other hand, the high end of the market continues to lag. Vail’s Real Estate Transfer Tax collections are down more than 20 percent from last year, and out of all the sales in July, just five were for more than $2 million. Meanwhile, property priced at less than $500,000 often has multiple offers from potential buyers.

Ron Byrne, a longtime broker based in Vail, said there’s currently “a lot of difficulty” between asking prices and offers.

While more expensive property will often draw offers to buy, Byrne said many of those offers are rejected.

“The bids are enough off (the asking price) that we aren’t closing the deals,” Byrne said.

The fact that sellers seem to be firming up on asking prices could be the result of improving markets elsewhere, Byrne said. Steve Cardinale, a broker in Slifer Smith & Frampton’s Beaver Creek office, agreed, saying the luxury markets in places including New York, San Francisco and Hawaii seem to be drawing buyers.

Demand High, Supply Low

One problem in the Vail Valley could be the lack of new inventory, Byrne said. Units at the Ritz-Carlton and Four Seasons in Vail seem to be drawing more interest, he said. Just about everything else is a re-sale of an existing unit.

But Byrne and Cardinale believe the divide between buyers and sellers may be narrowing, if not closing.

“People who have made (rejected) offers are starting to come back,” Byrne said.

Cardinale, who also has more than 30 years in the local real estate business on his resume, said some “pockets” in Beaver Creek are starting to show some life. But, he said, at the very high end of the market — $7.5 million and above — sellers are in a position of being able to wait for the right price on their property.

“People say, ‘My property’s unique — if it doesn’t sell, I’ve got a nice place when I come skiing,’” Cardinale said.

Time As A Cure All

The gulf between buyers and sellers might have just one cure — time.

But time may be starting to do its work. Cardinale said the markets for high-end items from homes to planes to boats and cars is starting to show life. People who have ridden the stock market to its current level may be ready to cash out and have some fun.

Denton said he’s starting to see a little loosening, too, saying his company, at the moment, has a home at Red Sky Ranch in Wolcott under contract. In fact, Denton said, the entire valley real estate business has put just more than 20 homes priced at $2 million or more under contract this summer. That’s a good thing.

Still, there are a few hundred more homes in that price range on the market.

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September Calendar of Events

• Aug 29-Sept 2.          Vail Jazz Festival
• Aug 30-Sept 1           Gourmet on the Gore
• Aug 30-Sept 1           Beaver Creek Oktoberfest
• Sept 1                        Vail Farmers Market
• Sept 6                        Vail Automotive Classic
• Sept 6-8                     Vail Oktoberfest in Lionshead
• Sept 10                      America's Cup Fly Fishing tournament 
• Sept 13-15                 Beaver Creek luxury Lifestyle Festival
• Sept 13-15                 Vail Oktoberfest in Vail Village
• Sept 19-21                 Living Well Summit
• Sept 20-22                American Crown Circus
• Sept 27-Oct 6            Vail/ Beaver Creek restaurant week

Statewide real estate markets improving

From the Vail Daily

Improvements in the local real estate market reflect state trends.

The Colorado Division of Housing said foreclosures dove 50 percent in May, while home loan payoffs surged.

At the same time, the Vail Board of Realtors May monthly indicators report shows a tightening local market. The number of new listings coming to market is down 13 percent from last year, and active inventory is down over 34 percent from last year. “While this report provides great insight into Eagle County as a whole, each neighborhood has its own unique characteristics and trends which are best navigated through the use of a local Realtor,” said Julie Retzlaff who chairs the Vail Board of Realtors. The time that a local property spent on the market dropped 3 percent to 159 days, down from 185 days in 2011, the Vail Board of Realtors May report said. Retzlaff said concerns about interest rates are popping up again, after Fed chief Ben Bernanke told Congress the Federal Reserve Bank is considering tapering the $85 billion it’s spending each month to buy mortgage-backed securities and other debt.

Payoffs are up

The number of home loans paid off in Colorado was up 31.4 percent from the first quarter of 2012 to the first quarter of 2013, the Colorado Division of Housing reported. Public trustees in Colorado released a total of 98,321 deeds of trust during the first quarter of 2013, the highest quarterly total recorded in any quarter since the Division began collecting quarterly totals in 2008. That’s up from 74,809 deeds released during the first quarter of last year. Eagle County saw the smallest increase of the 21 Colorado counties surveyed at 3.7 percent. Jefferson County showed the next smallest increase at 12.5 percent. A release of a deed of trust occurs when a real estate loan is paid off, whether it be through refinance, sale of property or because the owner has made the final payment on the loan, McMaken said. Increases in release activity occur as refinance and home-sale activity increases, and rising release totals typically indicate increases in the demand for home loans and real estate. “From early 2011 to late 2012, the average 30-year fixed mortgage rate fell for seven quarters in a row,” McMaken said. “We’re not surprised to see refinancing and purchase activity increase sharply as a result.”

Foreclosures are down

In Colorado’s metro counties, foreclosure filings were down 50.5 percent during May 2013, falling to the lowest level recorded during May in any year since the Division of Housing began collecting monthly totals in 2007. Foreclosure auction sales in metro areas were down 25.4 percent in May this year compared to May of last year, falling from 965 to 720. During the same period, foreclosure filings dropped from 2,249 to 1,113. For the first five months of the year combined, from January through May, foreclosure filings were down 43.4 percent in 2013 when compared to the same period last year. Foreclosure auction sales were down 29.4 percent across the same period. “And a downward trend is likely to continue as long as employment is stable and we continue to see low mortgage rates,” said Ryan McMaken, an economist for the Colorado Division of Housing. Foreclosure filings are the initial filing that begins the foreclosure process, and foreclosure auction sales totals are the total number of foreclosures that have been sold at auction, ending the foreclosure process.

July Calendar of Events

• 2nd           Bud Light Hot Summer Nights featuring Honey Island Swamp Band
• 2nd           Pat Benatar & Neil Giraldo
• 3rd           Avon's Salute to the USA
• 4th           Vail America Days Parade
• 4th            Beaver Creek Independence Day Celebration
• 6th            Minturn Market
• 7th           Vail Farmer's Market
• 9th            Bud Light Hot Summer Nights featuring The Revivalists
• 11th          Beaver Creek Rodeo
• 12th-14th  Art on the Rockies
• 13th          Minturn Market
• 14th          Vail Farmer's Market
• 16th          Bud Light Hot Summer Nights featuring Robert Randolph and the Family Band
• 18th          Beaver Creek Rodeo
• 20th-22nd Beaver Creek Antique Festival
• 20th          Kenny Loggins
• 21st          Minturn Market
• 22nd         Vail Farmer's Market
• 23rd          Bud Light Hot Summer Nights featuring Urban Dance Challenge
• 27th          Colorado River Ride
• 28th          Vail International Dance Festival Begins

All throughout the month of July the Bravo! Vail Valley Music Festival will host performances by the Dallas Symphony Orchestra, The Philadelphia Orchestra and the New York Philharmonic.

Eagle County real estate sales increase

From the Vail Daily:



The county’s real estate market is something of a mixed bag this year. Total sales are up, but average sale prices are down. But one sector of the market is keeping brokers and mortgage bankers hoping.


“If you’re selling a home for $300,000 or less, you’re going to get multiple offers,” Prudential Colorado Properties broker Mallie Kingston said.


Kingston said the activity in the lower end of the market is driven by several factors, but the most important is as old as Adam Smith: There’s a lot of demand and not much supply.


As a result, prices on the lower end of the for-sale market have started to show more strength, Kingston said.


Julie Bergsten, a vice president at Slifer Smith & Frampton Real Estate, said the multiple-offer syndrome may stretch a bit farther up-market. She said she’s seeing homes priced at $500,000 or less attracting a lot of attention, too.


Most of the sales in the county have historically been for $500,000 or less, with a few sales of high-end properties building up the average prices. That was the case in March, according to the most recent data from Land Title Guarantee Co.


Almost half of the 120 sales in March were for $500,000 or less, according to the monthly report. Adding homes of $1 million or less to the mix brings the total to 75 percent of all transactions.


But, Bergsten said, buyers of very expensive homes are “on the sidelines” right now. According to Slifer Smith & Frampton’s data, the company recorded 22 “written deals” for property priced at $3 million or more in the first quarter of 2012. In the first quarter of this year, only eight such deals were made.


But there’s no lack of buyers in the lower end of the market. Sarah Jardis, president of Central Rockies Mortgage, said she’s seeing a number of first-time buyers, including nurses, teachers and other young professionals. Those people are taking advantage of historically low interest rates. And, at least for some buyers, programs are available to loan 100 percent of a home’s purchase price.


Unlike the go-go days in the middle of the last decade, though, borrowers have to do more than register a pulse.


“There’s maybe more paperwork than ever before,” Jardis said. “If (a lender) asks for a bank statement, they want every page.”


Still, deals are getting done, Jardis said.


Bergsten said the current lack of inventory has the market in a kind of nether zone that’s neither a buyer’s nor seller’s market.


“Neither side is really in the driver’s seat right now,” Bergsten said. But, she added, sellers — especially those who don’t have to sell — may be feeling a bit more confident right now, and might be more willing to wait for what they consider an appropriate offer. And Kingston said this is a good time to sell, for people who still have equity in their homes.


Still, the market is nowhere near the rapid upward spiral it was on between 2005 and early 2008, and Bergsten said “I don’t see things exploding any time soon.”


With inventory so low, both Kingston and Bergsten said it might be time to build some new homes — at the right price point.

“That’s why they’re selling at Stratton Flats (in Gypsum),” Kingston said. “It’s all about the price point.”

June Calendar of Events

• 6th-9th          Go Pro Summer Mountain Games
• 14th-16th      King of the Mountain Volleyball tournament
• 15th-16th      Tough Mudder
• 16th               Vail Farmers Market
• 18th               Hot Summer Nights featuring Freddy Jones Band
• 21st-22nd      Beaver Creek Culinary Demonstration
• 23rd               Vail Farmers Market
• 25th               Hot Summer Nights featuring The Dunwells
• 27th               Beaver Creek Rodeo
• 28th-30th       Bravo! Vail featuring the Dallas Symphony Orchestra
• 29th               Reds, Whites & Brews Festival
• 29th               Minturn Market
• 30th               Vail Farmer's Market

Local real estate inventory continues to shrink

From the Vail Daily-

EAGLE COUNTY — Real estate supply is tighter and prices are creeping up, says the Vail Board of Realtors.

The group's report for the first quarter of this year shows less real estate inventory valley wide. Homes are staying on the market for about half the amount of time they were a year ago.

“It's the basic law of supply and demand,” said Mikel Oburn, a Realtor with Prudential Colorado Properties. “Inventory remains low, and so do interest rates, so prices are creeping up.”

Singletree, for example, has about half the properties on the market it had a year ago, Oburn said.

The Board of Realtors report shows local inventory levels are 34.5 percent lower than they were in the first quarter of 2012.

This time last year saw 17 months of local inventory available. It's down to nine and half months of available inventory.

That means if no other homes came on the market, every available home would sell within that time.

“This shift may mean that for owners who were on the fence about listing a property, the time to revisit their decision is now. There are buyers out there looking to purchase,” said Julie Retzlaff, chairperson of the Vail Board of Realtors. “From the buyer's perspective, now is also the time for them to move forward. Those considering a purchase could anticipate a rise in purchase prices in the future, as fewer inventory options exist. Lower inventory can create a rise in prices as a multitude of buyers compete for the same property.”

The market is also tightening back to what passes for normal as bank-owned and distressed property sales work their way through the market.

During February of this year, statewide foreclosure filings were down 43.6 percent, year over year, and foreclosure filings fell to the lowest point recorded in any month since the Colorado Division of Housing began keeping monthly foreclosure stats in 2007. Statewide foreclosure auction sales were at the lowest level recorded in any February during the past seven years.

Across Colorado, there were 3,995 foreclosure filings during the first two months of 2012 and 2,616 during the same period this year, according to the state Division of Housing.

Mesa County had the most foreclosures. Boulder County had the fewest.

Foreclosure filings peaked in mid-2009 in response to large job losses beginning in late 2008. A subsequent rise in foreclosure sales at auction peaked in spring and summer of 2010 as the state worked through the large inventory of foreclosures filed in mid 2009.

Foreclosure filings declined between January 2011 and July 2011, but have been generally flat since late 2011. Foreclosure sales activity has been falling since late 2011.

There appears to be a six to nine-month delay between trends in filings and sales. For example, the large decline in filings that began in mid-2009 shows up as a decline in sales that begins during the spring of 2010. This likely reflects a time lag between the initiation of foreclosures and the completion of foreclosures. Nevertheless, the increase in filings that appeared in late 2011 has yet to produce any resulting rise in auction sales.

Since 2011, however, both filings and sales have shown general declines in activity.

Nationwide, foreclosure filings have tended to peak late in the first quarter and early in the second quarter.

April Calendar of Events

• 3rd                Los Lonely Boys
• 3rd-6th         Taste of Vail
• 4th                Elephant Revival
• 5th                The Music of Abba
• 7th                Ski Heritage Week
• 8th-14th       Spring Back to Vail
• 12th              OAR
• 13th              Sublime
• 14th              Jimmy Cliff
• 14th              Pond Skimming
• 14th              Closing day at Vail, Beaver Creek and Breckenridge

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March Calendar of Events

• 2nd            Beaver Creek Talons Challenge
• 3rd            Edwards Winter Market
• 3rd            Beaver Creek Snowshoe series
• 7th            Cirque Mechanics
• 9th            Smokey Robinson
• 9th            Pink Vail
• 16th          Beaver Creek Kids Springfest
• 16th          Beaver Creek Ski, Ride & Slide series
• 19th          The Jason Bishop Show
• 20th          Korbel American Ski Classic
• 22nd         Fiddler on the Roof
• 27th          Lord of the Dance
• 28th          Dark Star Orchestra
• 31st          Easter Sunday

Eagle County real estate has best year since 2008!

Eagle County real estate numbers conclude 2012 with December reflecting the best month of the year. December had approximately $225 million in sales volume, which is nearly double that of last December. December also had 208 transactions. These numbers push the year end dollar volume for the county to over $1.5 billion and 1,726 transactions. Overall, 2012 is the best real estate year since 2008. Sales under $500,000 carried the vast majority of the transactions with 838; 58% of the residential transactions. Two other spectrum's also played a major roll in 2012; banks sales and high end properties over $4 million.

Bank sales accounted for 313 of all transactions (18% of all transactions), which was up from 2011 and averaged just under $300,000.

The high end residential properties over $4 million produced 56 transactions accounting for $373,464,279 (28%).

The Snow is GREAT IN VAIL!

January ended with a bang as Vail Mountain was blessed with another nine inches of fresh powder snow since Wednesday morning and at least another inch since the official report today, bringing the week’s cumulative total to two feet with more snow still falling throughout the valley.

We are enjoying the fresh powder and hope Mother Nature continues to snow on us! Come join me on the slopes!

2012 home sales: Best in 5 years

From CNNMoney

Steady December home sales capped the best year for the U.S. real estate market in five years, according to an industry trade group report Tuesday.

The National Association of Realtors said that December sales of previously-owned homes came in just slightly below November's sales pace, but up 12.8% from a year ago. That brought full-year sales to 4.65 million, up 9% from 2011 and the best year for home sales since 2007, when there were 5 million homes sold just before the start of the recession.

Sales are being helped by a combination of strong market fundamentals -- near record low mortgage rates, lower unemployment and a rebound in home prices, all of which are bringing in buyers into the market who had been waiting for it to hit bottom. The mortgage rates and years of depressed home prices have also combined to create the most affordable housing market on record, according to the Realtors group.

And the Realtors are predicting strong sales should continue into 2013 and beyond. It has a forecast for 5.1 million existing home sales this year, and 5.4 million next year.

The improved demand for homes in December led to the inventory of homes for sale to fall to 1.82 million homes on the market, the lowest supply since January 2001. One factor in tightening supplies is a drop in foreclosures and other distressed home sales, which made up only 24% of home sales in December compared to 32% a year ago. The tighter supply, and the drop in distressed sales, have helped to lift home prices so that the median sales price for the year rose to $176,600, up 6.3% from 2011. That's the biggest gain in prices in since the bubble year of 2005.

The rebound in the market for previously-owned homes is also showing up in the market for new homes, where sales rebounded to their highest levels since 2009, while housing starts reached the highest level since 2008.  

February Calendar of Events

• 3rd               Beaver Creek Snowshoe
• 5th               Second City Comedy Company
• 7th-10th       Winter Mountain games       
• 10th             Victor Wooten
• 12th             Air Supply
• 13th             The 5 Browns
• 15th-18th     PrezFest at Beaver Creek
• 19th             Aspen/Santa Fe Ballet
• 20th             Cyrille Aimee & the Guitar Heroes
• 21st             Todd Oliver's Dogs Gone Wild
• 23rd             Laser Spectacular with Music by Pink Floyd
• 25th-3/2       Burton US Open
• 27th             Monty Python Spamalot

Eagle County real estate numbers continue to improve

From the Vail Daily-

Eagle County real estate numbers continue to show strength over 2011 numbers, according to data released this week by Land Title Guarantee Co. in Eagle. There were 154 transactions with $135 million in dollar volume for November. The previous year, there were 121 transactions and $124.9 million in sales.

The under $500,000 category for November was the most active with 80 residential sales, accounting for 61 percent of the transactions and 19 percent of the total dollar volume.

Year-to-date, this brings the total to 1,518 transactions and $1.28 billion in dollar volume through November, a 24 percent increase over 2011 in both categories. The year-to-date overall average sales price is $858,266.

There were 22 bank sales in November, bringing the year's total through November to 288 and more than $86 million in dollar volume.

Commercial transactions have also picked up with nine sales in November and 69 transactions year-to-date.

The high-end properties over $4 million continue to make an impact with six transactions in November. The highest of these sales was a Strawberry Park home in Beaver Creek which sold for $11.9 million.

Among other highlights:

• The average price for a single family home was $1,169,601.

• 82 percent of the transactions in Eagle County sold for less than $1 million.

• Eagle and Gypsum accounted for nearly 30 percent of all transactions.