“Aspen Snowmass Market Overview: 2009 Year End Review and A Look at What's Ahead.” By Aspen Appraisal Group, AT

The report was released March 1, 2010 and covers all of 2009 to late Feb. 2010. The Aspen/Snowmass Market Overview is available for purchase at Aspen Appraisal Group's website: www.aspenappraisalgroup.com.“Much will be known about Aspen's recovery in the second and third quarters of 2010, and certainly by year end,” the report says. “There are some bright lights in Aspen's real estate market. Snowmass, however, looks to have a more tenuous short-term prognosis, and that market will undoubtedly take much longer to stabilize.” Randy Gold, President, Aspen Appraisal Group

ASPEN SNOWMASS REAL ESTATE — Aspen-area real estate prices generally tumbled between 20 and 40 percent during the recession from their peak in 2007, according to a in-depth study released in April by the Aspen Appraisal Group. Aspen real estate has been insulated to some degree from national economic downturns in the past, says the report, “Aspen/Snowmass Market Overview: 2009 Year End Review and A Look at What's Ahead.” ...But, the current recession was so severe that Aspen didn't escape unscathed.“There is no question that in this current downturn both volume and value have been impacted,” wrote Randy Gold, a principal in Aspen Appraisal Group. He has worked in the Aspen and Snowmass Village market for more than 30 years.The report provides plenty of evidence. Sales of single-family home sales fell 8 percent in 2009 compared to 2008. Dollar volume dropped 5 percent.The median sales price of an Aspen single-family home was $5.1 million last year, compared to about $6.1 million the year before and $5.5 million in 2007. Meanwhile, the number of listings continue to grow, Gold noted. There was roughly a four-year supply at the end of 2009 compared to a three-year supply a year earlier.
By Scott Condon, May 3, 2010 The Aspen Times

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