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September 07, 2004
Town and county real estate numbers continue upwards
Town and county real estate numbers continue upwards
It took only the first 12 days of August for San Miguel County to beat its real estate sales totals for the entire month last August, and with record-breaking numbers already defining 2004, high July figures came in as no surprise.
Like the region's real estate spike in July of 1999, July of this year is helping break the county year-to-date sales record, now set at $352 million, according to data from Judi Kiernan of Telluride Consulting.
"We had the highest July we've ever had, barring none," she said, "this is an extraordinary July."
Kiernan reported that real estate sales are 24 percent higher then last July and in just seven months of 2004, real estate sales are 88 percent of where they were at the same point in 2003. Of the more than $350 million in sales for the year, July totals make up about $41 million of that, from 56 sales.
"This is the biggest year to date in terms of dollars," Kiernan said.
Real estate figures have also secured a 21 percent gain over the previous record-breaking year of 2000.
"2000 seems to be that peak year that everyone wants to measure by," she said.
July numbers represent sales completed in April and May, which says even more about the market, Kiernan said - off-season months usually mark a real estate calm, but not this spring off-season.
"It's usually a very quiet time. This equals an active off-season," she said. "The fall is usually strong, July is typically a weak month Š this represents how strong the market's been. I don't see it slowing down."
The market boom can be attributed to a couple of things, Kiernan said, but namely, Telluride is a resort town growing up. As Telluride, Mountain Village and the surrounding areas mature into development - with condos, new homes, 10-year-old homes, and older renovated structures - moving out of a market stocked with more vacant land, values swell, and sales balloon.
The region's real estate leaders continue to be condominiums, with 71 sales in Telluride, 93 in Mountain Village and 11 in the county this year. In Telluride, this year alone condo sales totaled more than $35 million. Mountain Village homes too are making a comeback after a slow period, and hitting a peaking cycle at 23 sales this year amounting to $87.7 million.
"As a resort matures there are less sales of vacant lands, more condos, homes that have been improved - it's a clear sign of a maturing resort," said Kiernan.
And as vacant lots disappear, the market turns to existing and renovated structures, which equates to high dollar amounts. Kiernan said some people estimate Mountain Village is 10 to 15 years from build-out and Telluride a little closer with less availability of land and fewer lots.
"It's not going to take any less time to fill in those holes [in Telluride] either," she said.
Real Estate Transfer Tax collected by the Town of Telluride through the seventh month of 2004 pushed the town past the $2.5 million mark in total RETT collections, ringing in at a hearty 112 percent of what was projected for the entire 2004 budget, according to Town of Telluride's Finance Director Lynne Beck. July 2004 totals also sit $90,000 higher than the total collected last July.
"We're above what the budget estimate is Š it seems to be a pattern every month beating the month of the year before," said Beck. "Last year we were steady until the end of the year, and this year every month has been pretty high. We're hoping that will continue the rest of the year."
At $276,461, RETT collections this July are up more than 50 percent from the same month last year. With year-to-date collections already past $2.5 million mark, the town is already at 112 percent of its budgeted intake of $2.25 million. Last summer, RETT in July stood at just 66 percent of its budgeted total.
July's RETT total beats all previous July totals and, at a little more than halfway through the year, RETT collections for 2004 stand at $2.5 million, just a half million shy of the 2003 total and nearly matching the total RETT for 2001.
Collected in real estate transactions in Telluride's district, RETT feeds the Capital Improvement Fund, which subsidizes municipal projects like road and park improvements. Telluride's Open Space Fund collects 20 percent of transfer taxes.
August already looks promising, Beck said, and the remaining part of the year should bring in enough collections to surpass the 2003 RETT bank.
"So much is going on with building, lots selling at new developments, there's a lot of construction going on, and a lot of resale and renovation," said Beck.
Beck also said vacant land prices are going high, selling to developers, then developed and sold again to buyers, doubling RETT collections on a single piece of land.
Last summer, $1.4 million had been collected by the end of July - already this year RETT has nearly doubled that amount.
Posted by Ernie at September 7, 2004 06:28 PM