Teton County, Wyoming — Year End 2021
The 2020 Jackson Hole real estate market was a tough act to follow.
An unprecedented demand, fueled by the global pandemic, flooded the region with visitors 18 months ago, and the local community white-knuckled its way through an influx of new residents looking to enjoy an elevated quality of life in Northwest Wyoming.
While it feels like the COVID-inspired influx is beginning to moderate (December, 2021 saw the fewest number of sales in the last 12 months with only 37 closings), the year-end Teton County dollar volume saw another record year with more than $1.9B in sales.
Lack of inventory and escalating prices are certainly part of the tapering. At the beginning of 2022, only 52 homes were on the market in Jackson Hole. More startling is that the average price for the finite choices in Teton County has grown to more than $7M.
All regions of the valley saw significant individual property appreciation over the last 12 months, but the region North of Town proved to be the Jackson Hole hot spot with $673M in sales volume. The Town of Jackson was the only region in Teton County that saw a growth in year-over-year transactions (posting 229 transactions in 2021 vs. 194 in 2020).
Even with the slow down in transactional velocity, Q4 was the strongest quarter in 2021 with nearly $600M in sales volume (to put that in context, the entire 2019 Jackson Hole volume was $927M—which was also a record-setting year at the time).
The demand for Jackson Hole’s rustic-yet-refined lifestyle continues to be a driver for the regional market, and—possibly now more than ever—Wyoming’s tax friendly climate points toward another strong year for real estate in 2022.
LAND & RANCHES
Despite its wide open spaces and expansive views, Teton County’s number of privately-held vacant land parcels continues to dwindle.
County Assessor records suggest fewer than 10% of the 15,000 deeds remain open for development in 2022 (many of Jackson Hole’s vacant land parcels already enjoy a private conservation easement restricting their future development).
Land transactions dropped 18.3% in the last 12 months (down to 103 sales in 2021 vs. 126 sales in 2020). But in looking at the surge in building permits for the last year, the 200-plus land sales over the last 24 months suggest the scant undeveloped land in Jackson Hole has seen sharp pressure from buyers in the last two years.
In 2020, the median land sale for Teton County was a 4.16-acre parcel north of Town in Owl Creek that was listed for $1.295M (and that sold in November, 2020 for $1.1M). Twelve months later, the median land sale had grown to nearly $2M for a 50’ x 150’ lot in the Gill Addition in the Town of Jackson.
CONDOMINIUMS/TOWNHOMES
While unit sales of condos and townhomes were down slightly in 2021 (190 sales last year vs. 194 sales in 2020), this segment of the market saw an 11.1% increase in dollar volume, generating nearly $350M in the last 12 months.
Individual areas—like the Aspens and the Town of Jackson—enjoyed a spike in property values. Toward the end of 2020, one-bedroom O’Brien floor plans in the Aspens were hovering around $600,000. Less than a year later, that value has jumped to nearly $1M.
In the Town of Jackson, Love Ridge condos at the Snow King Resort were priced in the $1.7M range toward the end of 2020. One year later, the same 3-bedroom floor plans are now fetching almost $3M.
The median sales for 2020 and 2021 saw a 30.7% increase year-over-year. In 2020, the midpoint condo/townhome sale in Jackson Hole was the equivalent of $577/sq.ft. (for a 2-bedroom Elk Run Townhome). One year later, this metric had grown to $754/sq.ft. (for a 2-bedroom townhome in Melody Ranch).
SINGLE FAMILY HOMES
Residential home sales define the Jackson Hole real estate market. While the 251 home sales in Teton County in 2021 were down 26.8% from the previous year (mostly due to a lack of inventory and escalating prices), the corresponding $1.187B in dollar volume represented 62.5% of the total market sales volume.
The median home value saw a substantial rise year-over-year, growing from about $2.5M in 2020 (for a 2,500 sq.ft. home in Polo Ranches) to more than $3M in 2021 (for a 3,500 sq.ft. home in South Park).
In 2019, 28 homes sold with a listing price of $5M or more. In 2020, that number exploded to 71 sales and almost $650M in complementing dollar volume. While home transactions fell in 2021 (again, mostly due to lack of inventory), the upper-end-home market again posted 71 sales above $5M but with $742M in volume.
The upper-end home market represented 12.3% of all transactions, but accounted for almost 40% of the $1.9B Jackson Hole real estate market.