With economic news all over the map these days — mortgage rates are at an all time low, the stock market has dipped once again and the world’s leading countries agreed at the G20 summit to cut back on spending — it’s a good sign to see Telluride’s economy improving, slowly but surely.
Take San Miguel County’s real estate data from the month of May, for example.
“We’re continuing to see steady activity which was initiated at the beginning of the year,” said Sally Puff Courtney, a broker with Peaks Real Estate. “There is continued interest and movement in our markets.”
According to numbers compiled by Telluride Consulting, there were 28 real estate sales in May worth $33.7 million. That’s a 155 percent increase in the number of sales and 165 percent increase in dollar volume from last May.
“I’m actually surprised, and pleasantly so, that the market is up so nicely,” said real estate broker George Harvey. “That’s better than what I thought it’d be.”
In May 2009, there were only 11 sales worth $12.7 million.
Harvey, who is also the president of the Colorado Association of Realtors, is a numbers guy. He compares local numbers with economic reports from across the state, and thinks Telluride’s real estate market is on the road to recovery and doing much better than other resort communities in Colorado.
“Steamboat and Telluride are recovering faster than any other market in Colorado,” he said.
He’s not exactly sure why Telluride is doing better than other resorts, but suggested that in this small economy a small upturn makes a big difference.
“We’re a pretty small economy, and we went down faster than [Aspen and Vail] did, and we’re coming back faster because fewer sales affect us more,” Harvey said.
Telluride’s real estate market is unique because most buyers are second and third homebuyers and generally don’t take out loans to buy their properties — a characteristic found in a lot of resort communities.
“The affluent resort markets are very different than big city markets,” Harvey said. “We have all this wealth here that somewhat stabilizes the market.”
However, that doesn’t mean resort communities weren’t affected by the economic downturn of the last 18 months.
“We’re subject to the whims of the global economy and the affluent and if they feel comfortable making a business decision,” Harvey said.
Harvey estimates that home prices are down 20 to 40 percent from 2006 and 2007 when they peaked, turning the market into a buyers’ market.
Sellers are either holding onto properties to see if things improve, or they are dropping prices to get buyers’ attention.
“It’s been a good year for buyers,” Harvey said.
Jill Masters, a broker associate on the Telluride Association of Realtors’ board of directors, said there are a lot of people in town looking at properties, but this year isn’t anywhere near the banner years of 2006 and 2007.
“But compared to 2009, it’s very encouraging,” she said.
She said Telluride is largely in a holding pattern for the rest of the summer because people are either holding out for good prices or the low-priced properties have already been purchased.
“People are holding because as a seller they want to get their price or as a buyer they’re waiting for their price deal,” she said.
However, she was cautiously optimistic.
“In the Town of Telluride, there’s a lot of good product for sale at prices we haven’t seen in 10 years,” Masters said. “Because we are a limited product here, Telluride will always hold its own as far as value.”
Courtney said homebuyers are still looking for a good value and choosing where to invest their money.
“People are still interested in their quality of life,” Courtney said. “The beautiful thing about real estate is you can use it and enjoy it and it doesn’t evaporate like stock.”
