Latest Aspen Real Estate Market Summary

This real estate market update is a brief summary of the 32-Pg Estin Report: H1 2025 Aspen Real Estate Market (Monthly reports are posted in the Current Reports section). The H1 2025 Year over Year (YoY) dollar sales for Aspen alone are up 52%, $948,222,660 vs $624,920,000 and up 48% in unit sales, 43 vs 29 while listing inventory, the number of properties for sale, has increased 24%, 192 vs 155; in  Snowmass Village (SMV) dollar sales are down 12%, $151,205,000 vs 172,153,500, and unit sales are down 20%, 16 vs 20, while inventory is down 8%, 36 vs 39. Some Snowmass Village background: Since 2018, Snowmass Base Village (SBV) has completed about two new built condo projects every 18-24 months. In late Jan 2025, a new and final Snowmass Base Village project, Stratos Snowmass, became available for sale.  Base Village new projects have typically sold out early in their release at pre-construction prices. In Oct thru Dec 2024, most of the 2022 under contract Cirque x Viceroy (Assay Hill Lodge Ph II) and Snowmass Aura condo projects – new built condos located slopeside in the Base Village – closed upon issuance of their certificate of occupancy. These projects had gone under contract/pending almost two years prior. Between going under contract in winter 2022 and closing in Oct – Dec 2024, there is a “lull” of fresh inventory, so the big rise in 2024 sales is coming off a much lower sales base in 2023. The same logic applies now where there is a lull in BV new project completion and hence closing sales. We are in-between developer sales cyles so the numbers are down. In general, SMV has been on fire, selling at an approximate 40-60% discount to Aspen with a slew of brand new condo product that is simply not available in Aspen due to aged stock and more restrictive zoning. The newly developed, still-in-progress and evolving, Base Village has rejuvenated the beautiful mountain resort just 8 miles from downtown Aspen. The Aspen local real estate market prices are driven by an on-going lack of inventory of properties for sale from downtown Aspen rippling outward throughout the entire Roaring Fork Valley. Finding the right property remains challenging for buyers. Though inventory has been rising slowly, there continue to be relatively few offerings compared to historic levels (see pages 14 and 23 annual comparisions since 2015) and prices remain strong. Demand outstrips supply. For an historic view of inventory levels since at least 2012, see the Charts Section. In H1 2025, the median sold price of a single family home in the Aspen market was $18.1M/$3,965 sq ft up 10% in price YoY;  For Aspen condos, the median price was $3.1M/$3,536 sq ft versus $2,85M/$3,070 sq ft, up 9% YoY. In general, Aspen today probably has amongst, if not the, most expensive median home prices on a price per square foot basis in the United States. Prices of many new built luxury homes and remodeled condos easily fall within the $4,000-$5,000 sq ft range with a fast growing number of stellar located properties selling in the $5,000-$7,000+ sq ft range. As example, in summer 2024, there were two stunning off-market sales at $60M/$6,867 sq ft at the base of Red Mountain on Willoughby Way – with the hat trick offering of panoramic mountain views/river views/walkable into town all in one location and a downtown centrally located townhome at $31.95M/$6,907 sq ft. In Aug 2025, a new residential listing, Little Lake Lodge, came on the market for $300M/$10,980 sq ft on 74 acres set on a pristine pond with the Roaring Fork River running through it, with an existing 8,000 sq ft 1994 built/2022 remodeled home and rights to build another 19,750 sq ft residence, far exceeding the Pitkin County allowable maximum house size of 9,250 sq ft. The record price for an Aspen home, and first sale over $100M, occurred on 4/15/24 at $108M/$4,820 sq ft  for a 4.5 acre, 22,000 sq ft estate near the base of Red Mountain – however, with furnishings, art, etc, the total bill was $127M. The second highest sale, also in April 2024, was $77M/$6,084 sq ft for an 12,655 sq ft contemporary Aspen estate on 60 acres in Owl Creek, halfway between Aspen and Snowmass Village. Thus far, the record sold price per sq ft for an Aspen home is $53.5M/$7,728 sq ft for 270 Heather Lane, a 2021 contemporary home in a residential Aspen neighborhood prized for large lots and open space and $5,75M/$9,650 sq ft for a 715 sq ft studio/loft condo remodeled in 2016 in the historic 1888 Brand Building in downtown Aspen. Luxury homes in this housing market are the capstone of high dollar volume, and Aspen homes rank among the highest median sale prices in the country. Conversely, Pitkin County property taxes are amongst the lowest in the country – highest property valuations, lowest taxes. And clearly, the Aspen 80 – Aspen’s billionaire influencehas been a significant driver in the market: A highly regarded local appraiser determined in Feb 2024 at an Aspen Board of Realtors presentation that we probably have 100-125 Aspen billionaires who own property here compared to NYC with 107, Beijing 83, Hong Kong 68, London 66, Palm Beach Island 54 (Source: Forbes, World’s Richest Cities 2022. Also according to Forbes as of April 2024 there are 813 US billionaires, and 2,781 billionaires in the world, up 141 from last year.) In H1 2025, Aspen single family homes priced between $10M-$30M were selling at 93-96% to ask (see Pg 17, H1 2025 report), about the same as same period last year ...unless the listing is over-priced to begin with and then there is a greater spread. Aspen condos, 2-3 bedrooms, are selling at an avgerage 96% of ask. Over 70% of Aspen property transactions close with cash even though lenders or investment groups are typically behind these deals offering super-low lending rates for the purpose of relationship building with affluent Aspen clients. Real estate agents generally have no problem selling a home if they can actually find properties to sell. For most of 2025, there have been incremental Aspen home price adjustments but sellers remain firmly in control. Prices are neighborhood and property specific rather than some general seller capitulation that would be of real impact for buyers, and they continue to dwarf prior local real estate market peaks. Looking ahead towards the second half of 2025, the prevailing market trends are expected to continue: low inventory, an anticipated stricter land use code to be adopted in late 2025/2026 further limiting new build home sizes and, in turn, favoring existing larger homes, continued demand for remote work and living in our fairly accessible, world-class outdoor sports, arts and cultural mountain environment. Yet Ukraine and the Middle East conflicts are obviously unsettling and horrific; concern abound on the Trump tariff front and there are growing inflation worries and continued high interest rates. Much can happen – the unknown  – to adversely affect our real estate values. However, if one’s timeline is conservatively 5 years or more, history has shown that Aspen real estate has been a proven safe harbor and a profitable diversification play for the past 70 years. Unlike a paper asset, property owners get “double” the return: 1) Enjoyment of the physical asset in a beautiful natural and unique world class sports and cultural environment; 2) Realization of time-proven and tested Aspen Snowmass appreciation.

To learn more about Aspen properties for sale, the Aspen real estate market and our history from a life-time Aspenite contact Sotheby’s broker Tim Estin MBA (970.309.6163 or email).

This Section contains Estin Reports: Aspen Snowmass Real Estate Market Reports and Monthly Snapshots for the past 12 months. Prior year reports and monthly snapshots are archived in the Past Reports section.

The reports are:
1) Bi-Annual: State of  the Aspen Snowmass Residential Real Estate Market Report: The most current and timely narrative and and scrubbed stats available.
2) Monthly Aspen Snowmass Residential Market Report Snapshots: Aspen Snowmass real estate summary (10 pages of detailed monthly stats and ‘bottom line’ commentary) released on or near the 1st Monday of each month. Includes sales stats by neighborhoods in 6-month periods that includes the subject month (Pgs 7 & 9).
3) Weekly Blog: Aspen Snowmass Weekly property closings and under contract activity is posted every Monday morning, sometimes in-between. Lots of photos, details and comments. At the bottom of the Blog Section are the Blog Archives by year from 2006.
4) Aspen Snowmass Real Estate Historic Pace of Sales Charts: updated every quarter showing Aspen and Snowmass Village residential dollar and unit real estate sales by area and property types (past 10 yrs) and trend lines.

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