By Susana Field, The Steamboat Gal

On June 8, 2010 I attended Alpine Mountain Ranch & Club’s “Insight For the Future” , a presentation to the community held at the Strings’ Pavilion. In Part 1, I shared my notes on why Vail’s former CEO Andrew Daly favors Steamboat Springs as a great real estate investment. Here in Part 2, as promised, are my notes on why David Belin’s research findings point to Steamboat as a positive opportunity for value and value preservation.

Data David Belin Looked At:

1. Looked back 20-30 years (with emphasis on recessionary impacts)
2. Average Sales Price
3. Total Number of Units Sold
4. Total Volumn (Cost) of All Units Sold

Findings

Average sales price starts to rise a year after the end of a recession. (The current recession was declared over in June of 2009.)

• Aspen was the exception: Average sales price continued to rise during the recession.
• Steamboat’s average sales price peaked in 2008.
• Breckenridge/Keystone and Steamboat have stayed similar over time.
• Steamboat’s average sales price in 2009 was the same as Vail and Telluride in 2004.
• Steamboat’s didn’t rise as sharply as some other resort towns after previous recessions, but it also didn’t fall as much during a recession.

Total dollar volumn also rises about a year after a recession.

• Steamboat’s total dollar volume sold is currently back to 2003 numbers.
• We didn’t experience a big run up and crash like other mountain resorts did.

Number of total units sold typically recovers pretty quickly.

• Unfortunately, during the 2001 recession, Steamboat’s total number of units sold didn’t come back until 2004.
• 2005-2007 the numbers were stable.
• 2008 fell sharply, with 2009 not as sharp.
• Number of units sold in Steamboat currently outpaces Aspen and Jackson Hole.
• Vail’s and Jackson Hole’s numbers are the smallest since 1990 when records first bacame available.
• Park City had a huge rise and a huge fall.

Conclusion: Steamboat provides greater value than the other resort towns.

Bill Butler, co-developer of Alpine Mountain Ranch and Club, shared his observations of the data:

• Park City is the most beneficial benchmark for Steamboat.
• Prices have not receeded here compared to Park City and Vail.
• Pricing will hold and continue to grow.
• The Billion dollars in recent Steamboat developments has had a positive effect, as seen by the break out in prices in 2007.
• Compared to other mountain resorts, Steamboat is a late bloomer.

This entry was posted on Sunday, June 27th, 2010 at 2:01 pm and is filed under Market Trends, Real Estate Opportunities. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.