Area Information

Aspen/Snowmass Village

Recently ranked No. 1 in the nation by Forbes Magazine as the “Best Place to be Rich” the Aspen area property records indicate that 30 of Forbes “Most Affluent Americans” own property in the Aspen area. While this is an impressive number, it has been estimated that the number could actually be doubled, due to the number of buyers who choose to title ownership in the name of a limited liability company or other entity. While sale prices have steadily increased over the past 10 years, the extreme limitation of developable land will keep driving sale prices even higher.

The final statistics for 2005 real estate sales in Pitkin County confirmed suspicions since the end of last ski season that it would be a monster year. The old record wasn't just topped, it was shattered. The dollar volume of all real estate sales was $2.24 billion in Pitkin County, according to research by Land Title Guarantee Co. That's an increase of 40 percent from 2004's sales volume of $1.60 billion. 2005's mark was the previous record. December sales placed an exclamation mark on the year. Sales for the month alone were $190.58 million, an increase of 126 percent over December 2004. The total number of real estate sales transactions in Pitkin County was also off the charts in 2005. The deals soared 41 percent from 1,903 to 2,612. Real estate brokers repeatedly said throughout 2005 that the only factor that will cool the local market is a lack of inventory.

Pitkin County has remained above the $1 billion level in annual sales volume of each of the last four years. Sales volume topped $2 billion in 2005 and soared to $2.64 billion last year.

Land Title Guarantee Company’s 1st quarter of 2007 analysis of the real estate market showed sales hit $759.88 million from January through March. That is $293.84 million, or 63%, above last year’s first quarter. The title insurance firm researched data recorded with the Pitkin County Clerk’s office for its report. The market has already reached almost a billion dollars in sales, which is 41.99% increase over last year. Aspen had the largest volume of sales representing 51% of the sales for the county.

Local zoning controls, which are designed to limit growth, have greatly increased property values over time. And with much of the land in and around Aspen and Snowmass Village owned by governmental agencies, what's available for private ownership, let alone what is actually on the market, is very limited. Currently, only 15 percent of the land in and around Aspen (Pitkin County) is privately owned, a majority of which is ranch land, while only 2 percent is currently vacant and developable.

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