Sales Volume Lessens Amid Lower Home Inventory and Rising Prices – Appreciation Still Ongoing – Most Noticeably in Lower Price Ranges
Sales data for year-end 2014 exhibited a contraction in the number of sales and total dollar volume of sales (as compared to the previous year to date) of nearly 14%. This phenomenon is attributed to a decrease in listing inventory, with the inventory as of mid-January of 2015 being approximately 20% less than it was at that time last year. As a result of this market tightening, single-family home sales are off in number by approximately 18%. The number of attached home sales and vacant land sales are also down (14% and 2% respectively) but not to the degree of detached, improved residences. It was hypothesized during the mid-year market report that the earlier recovery of the single-family housing market gave many single-family home sellers the confidence to “test the waters” with higher asking prices at the beginning of the summer sales season, causing a standoff between buyers and sellers. As of yearend, it was noted that prices remained strong despite contracting sales volume, with little or no indication of sellers lessening their expectations. The aggregated data for residential real estate sales showed an increase in average price (8.1%) from yearend 2013, with this indication hypothesized to be the result of continued appreciation in the lower-priced segments of the market and stabilized pricing at the upper end of the residential market. Notably, the aggregated date would, appear to indicate that Teton County’s more expensive properties depreciated to varying degrees during 2014. However, examination of individual property sales provides that this is not the case. Rather, a decrease in the number of luxury sales above $3,000,000 in value served to pull the average price of Teton County Luxury sales downward, but this is not at all indicative of a downward value trend, merely a fluctuation in the number of high-end sales.
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