Just when we thought that things couldn’t get any more exciting, they did. The statistical report of the Aspen Board of Realtors shows an extremely heated market with high prices and quick sales in most segments of the market.

Lupines flowered on the real estate market before they took over the mountains this year.

Key takeaways:

Median home sale price for single family homes is up almost 55% compared to the same month last year.
Median sales price is Basalt goes up to $5.5 million.
No town all the way down to Rifle has a median sales price under $500,000

Prices ramp up despite higher rates

The median price of a home in our valley jumped a staggering 54.4%, under an extremely low inventory and a demand that seems relatively stable despite the recent rise in interest rates.

Spring is typically the most active season for real estate, with buyers trying to wrap up their taxes, buy a home and move in during the Summer months. This year was no exeption and the demand for homes went well obove the supply available. This unbalance between demand and supply has been the environment we’ve been operating under for a while, and things have just gotten worse, or better depending on what side of the sale you are on.

Recently, potentially due to seasonal factors, inflation seemed to revive, going up close to the 3% YoY and further away from the 2% central bank target. Therefore lowering interest rates has been put aside and there are even talks about raising them further… Is an 8% mortgage rate in our near future? Not impossible, say the experts. In the meantime, the little inventory we have is being absorbed no matter the rates.

Locally, a new normal emerges

At a more local level, we are seeing affordability plummet further, raising the question of the sustainability of the current trend. Who is setting the price if local wages can’t keep up?

By looking at other markets around the country and around the World (see in depth analysis of this phenomenon here), it seems like there are many other areas in the World that have been operating under low affordability/low inventory market conditions for a while, and even settled in that realm undisturbed for decades. These markets have similar traits to ours and I wouldn’t bet against the fact that that’s in the cards for us. Our area has never been affordable to the common men and women, but with the recent dynamics of concentration of wealth, feeling of insecurity in urban areas, remote work, social media advertising healthy lifestyle and access to recreation in your daily life, the Roaring Fork Valley keep becoming more attractive to wealthy retirees and young professionals alike. It is possible that we are going to see home prices settle at levels that most have not thought possible before. Southern California, Sydney, Western Canada and other high Dollars, highly attractive lifestyle moving destinations have proved that possible. Buckle up, this market might not get any more affordable for a while!