Vail Valley Real Estate Blog

Vail has had one of its best years ever as far as snow goes.  While the weak dollar is causing Americans to cut back on spending, the Europeans are taking advantage of the incredible exchange rate.  Several areas of the United States have been dealing with a high number of foreclosures due to the subprime fiasco, but Vail is still experiencing very high sales. Vail traditionally sees strong real estate sales when the snow is good and this winter the snow has been phenomenal.  What makes Vail’s housing market so robust is supply and demand. The Vail Valley has a supply squeeze, demand is here but only about 4% of the total land in the county can be developed.  This pushes the price of housing up higher and faster than most areas of the country.

 On the negative side, the middle class are feeling this by having to pay higher taxes on their property.  In some cases homeowners saw a 40% increase in their taxes.  This also affects spending at shops and restaurants and local retailers feel the affects as well.  This sector of the real estate market, the under $1M sector, is seeing the biggest decline in purchases, because these are usually the properties which require loans.

International tourism is up 23% over last year in Vail, attributable to the weak US dollar.  The accents that are being heard the most around Vail are German and British.  The Euro has doubled in value, or the dollar has been cut in half, so the Europeans are buying property for half of what it costs an American to buy the same property.  Another large international group of visitors are South Americans who tend to visit earlier in the ski season, so while the Euro is a huge factor in the increased number of international tourists, it is not the only one.  This is great for Vail’s economy because people who travel far distances tend to stay longer and therefore spend more.
 

To get the real data on the past sales we have done a report on every 3 bedroom sale in the past year broken down by neighborhoods. This is available by emailing to info@escape2Vail.com and let us know what neighborhoods interest you the most or, call me at 970.766.7080.