ASPEN REAL ESTATE – The notion that the recession could open opportunities for Aspen to attract a less well-heeled demographic may be a false one if current real estate trends are any indication, according to local brokers.A surge in high-end real estate sales has been one of the dominant trends of the first half of 2010, according to several local brokers, with several more such deals in the works. And despite lower average prices across the board and a surplus of inventory, the high-end trend might mark the beginning of an uptick in Aspen’s bellweather economic segment.The upper valley market is still down approximately by about half from historic highs — the first half of 2010 saw 50 percent the dollar volume of January through June 2007, according to a calculation by Tim Estin of Mason Morse real estate. Yet, 16 single-family home properties changed hands for more than $10 million in the upper Roaring Fork Valley from January to June 2010, compared to four in the first six months of last year, according to Estin’s analysis.The Estin Report’s quarterly and half-year analysis also found that 81 percent of sales in the second quarter of this year in Aspen, Snowmass Village and Woody Creek were above $4 million, compared to 41 percent during the same time period in 2009.
By Catherine Lutz, August 2, 2010 Aspen Daily News Staff Writer

Link to article

08/03/10 Published in Aspen Daily News

ASPEN REAL ESTATE – CORRECTION:
There was an error in the Aug. 2 article “Aspen’s high end is the hot trend.” There have been 16 real estate sales over $6 million in the first six months of 2010.

Link to article