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. 

January Calendar of Events

• 1st   Celebrate 2013
• 2nd  Whos Bad, a Tribute to Michael Jackson- Vilar Center
• 3rd   1964, a Tribute to the Beatles- Vilar Center
• 6th   Beaver Creek Snowshoe series 
• 9th   Dar Williams- Vilar Center
• 10th, 17th, 24th   50th Anniversary Film showing in Vail
• 13th  Jonas Kaufmann-  Vilar Center
• 16th  Marc Cohn- Vilar Center
• 17th  Robin Williams & David Steinberg- Vilar Center
• 20th  Lewis Black- Vilar Center
• 24th-27th  Beaver Creek Food & Wine Festival
• 24th   Shook Twins- Vilar Center
• 31st  Delta Ray & ZZ Ward- Vilar Center

Housing prediction for 2013: Prices will rise

From CNBC reporter Diana Olick

Home prices will continue to rise, anywhere from 5 to 7 percent in 2013 from 2012.

These prices will be driven by continued competition among investors in the distressed market, as well as a return to the market of organic move-up buyers. A lack of supply in some local markets could push prices there even higher, but the concern is that prices would rise faster than incomes, which could leave some potential buyers on the sidelines.

Mortgage availability will be further curtailed by new regulations coming out ofDodd-Frank.

Rules governing risk retention and a borrower's ability to repay a loan have yet to be released, but mortgage bankers are already warning they could make loans more expensive. Mortgage rates will likely rise off their historic lows, but not significantly.

Apartment rents will stay elevated and vacancies low despite the improvement in the housing market.

First-time home buyers are still having trouble returning to the home buying market, despite rising household formation. With lenders requiring higher down payments and complete documentation, these buyers who usually make up over 40 percent of the market are at barely one third of home sales. We will only see the tide turner with far more robust job creation.

Mortgage delinquencies and foreclosures will remain elevated, but continued principal reduction modifications as well as a high level of short sales will alleviate much of the distress.

Foreclosure sales will continue, but the banks are unlikely to flood the market with bank-owned properties, as they have no desire to put downward pressure on prices.

As home prices continue to rise, more borrowers will come up from underwater.

This gain in home equity will help to fuel the renovation market and benefit remodeling retailers like Home Depot, Lowes and Masco.