Teton County, Wyoming — Q2 2021
Comparing the first six months of the 2021 Jackson Hole real estate market to the same period last year feels like trying to compare a bull moose to a patch of sagebrush. Both have their place in the regional landscape, but the similarities end there.
One year ago, the valley–and the nation–was still wrestling with the effects of the global pandemic. Terms like “social distancing” and “sheltering in place” were still working their way into our lexicon. We had no idea what was to unfold in the months to come.
Twelve months later, the local scenery remains the same, but the regional real estate market barely resembles what was true pre-Covid.
In Teton County for the first six months of 2021, transactions are up only 68.9%, mostly due to a lack of inventory and rapidly appreciating pricing. The complementing dollar volume year-over-year is up 114.5% to $789.4M. To put that into perspective, the total dollar volume for Teton County in all of 2019 was $927.8M.
What has started to come into focus, however, is what twelve months of a post-lockdown market looks like. Totaling the sales and volume from July, 2020 (arguably when the real estate surge in Jackson Hole started to take shape) through June, 2021, we see transactions are up over the 2019 year-end total 52.6% (792 sales for the last 12 months vs. 519 sales in all of 2019). More pronounced still is the spike in dollar volume which grew 149.1% from the year-end 2019 total of $927.8M to a staggering $2.31B for the last 12 months.
LAND & RANCHES
The scarcity of raw land has always defined the Jackson Hole real estate story, and the regional market has seen a land grab across most of the valley during the last 12 months.
Portions of the valley where communities are nearly built out, like Teton Village, saw a plateau of activity within this segment. Conversely, regions like North of Town and South of Town saw huge increases in both year-over-year sales and complementing dollar volume.
North of Town more than doubled its year-over-year sales and volume. South of town jumped from only two transactions in 2020 to 14 sales for the first six months of 2021. Sales volume South of Town grew to more than $35M on the year-to-date, bolstered in part by one sizable eight-figure sale.
CONDOMINIUMS/TOWNHOUSES
Of the 93 condo and townhome sales in Teton County for the first six months of 2021, 64 occurred in the town of Jackson. That also represented a 75% increase in this market segment for Teton County and a nearly 100% increase for condo and townhome sales in town.
While a “condo” in Jackson Hole can range from a 1-bedroom in town for $500,000 to a ski-in/ski-out penthouse in Teton Village for more than $5M, rapidly appreciating home prices have helped to fuel this segment of the market. Last year, the median condo sale was a 3-bedroom in town for $785,000 (approximately $580/sq.ft.). In 2021, the median condo sale in Jackson Hole was a 2-bedroom at Spring Creek Ranch for $940,000 ($790/sq.ft., or a 36.2% increase based on $/sq.ft. year-over-year).
SINGLE FAMILY HOMES
Home sales—especially in the upper-price-points—have driven the Jackson Hole real estate market for the last 12 months.
While sales are only up 35.4% year-over-year (mostly stifled by a lack of inventory), dollar volume for home sales in Teton County grew 91.2% from $243.5M in 2020 to $465.7M in 2021. This jump in volume pushed the average Jackson Hole home price to more than $4M. The median sale price, however, grew from $1.82M in 2020 (for a 4-bedroom, 3,100 sq.ft. home in the Town of Jackson) to $2.91M in 2021 (for a 4-bedroom, 3,600 sq.ft home on West Gros Ventre Butte)—a 60% increase in median home price for the last 12 months.
At present, the least-expensive home in Teton County is $1.4M for a 2-bedroom on .48 acres south of the town of Jackson. The opening price point for a house in town is $1.5M for a 660 sq.ft. cabin on .17 acres.