After two months of pandemic-induced hibernation, the Routt County real estate market has come roaring back.  In June, more properties went under contract than in any previous month in recent history.  A whopping 132 properties went pending in June, compared to a paltry 38 in April when in-person showings were banned. The largest spike was in single-family home contracts, up 50 percent versus multi-family contracts that were up 6.8 percent. Competition is tight as COVID has delayed some sellers from moving this year, impacting new listings which are down 30 percent for homes and -6.6 percent for townhome/condos from last year. While the uncertainty of COVID in April and May could have resulted in some sellers taking slightly more off their list price than they might have otherwise, the limited inventories are now resulting in several multiple offer situations. As such, we anticipate pending sales to replicate 2019s percent average of list price sold to within 3-4 percent. To be expected, with low residential inventory comes the increase of interest in vacant land. While there are 54 parcels under contract in Routt County, 48 of those contracts have occurred in the last 30 days. There is good vacant land supply in certain areas. Of the pending parcels, list prices start at $38,000 and go up to $4.9 million – with an average list price of $460,549.

Historically, the third quarter produces Routt County’s largest sales volume – particularly for the upper end segment. Activity of $2 million-plus continues to be strong with an additional 11 properties under contract this month plus eight existing for a total of 19. With nine properties in this caliber already closed, we are on pace to meet and likely beat the 37 sales of 2019.

With persistent low inventory and new construction that is not keeping pace with demand, it likely means homes will continue to appreciate in desirable places like Steamboat.

Note: June 2020 statistics provided via the Colorado Association of Realtors, ShowingTime & ReColorado.