HOMES:

Sales of single family homes declined 8% from 40 in Q1 of 2013 to 37 reported closings for the first quarter of 2014. Total sales volume declined by 16% over the first quarter of 2013. The average selling price per square foot increased by slightly more than $5.00 to $130.84 per square foot and the List to Sell Discount declined from 14.1% to 11.9%. Foreclosure sales were only 19% as compared to 28% during the first quarter of last year. Homes took fewer days to sell during the first quarter in comparison to the first quarter of 2013. Though these changes may seem small, they would indicate an improving undercurrent within the Pagosa Springs Area Housing Market.


CONDOS Condo-Townhome closings improved for the first quarter from a year earlier, with a 20% increase in the number of condos sold and a 29% increase in total sales volume. The average and median selling prices for condos increased as well for the first quarter of 2014. There are two new condo and townhome projects underway along the San Juan River in town just upstream and downstream from the Apache Street Bridge and those units are selling. Due to the very limited amount of available land along the river, the supply of housing units in that area will remain constrained. This should drive values at Pagosa Riverwalk Condominiums and Cobblestone Townhomes higher in the years ahead


COMMERCIAL Commercial activity also recorded a decline over results from a year earlier with a total of only 2 sales reported for the first quarter of 2014 while 7 sales closed during the first quarter of 2013. Total commercial property sales volume declined for the first quarter of 2014, showing a drop of 54% over the first quarter of 2013. There was some commercial leasing activity within the Pagosa Springs area during the first quarter of this year which will help the vacancy factor and market lease rates.


LAND The strongest improvement shown in the data for the first quarter of 2014 was in land sales. The number of closed land transactions totaled 49 as compared to only 17 closings during the first quarter of 2013. Total sales volume for land sales showed an impressive increase of 178% over the total for a year earlier. The average and median selling prices declined slightly, perhaps indicating that price reductions brought some new Buyers into the market.