Teton County, Idaho — Year End 2021

Coming off a record-setting year in 2020, the Teton Valley real estate market managed to outdo itself in 2021.

While transactions were only up slightly year-over-year (1120 total sales in 2020 compared to 1154 transactions for the last 12 months), dollar volume exploded by 72.7% and tallied more than $629M by the beginning of 2022. More noteworthy is the Teton Valley market posted a now-modest $181M in 2019. In other words, the real estate market for the “Quiet Side of the Tetons” has grown nearly 250% percent in the last 24 months.

The regions of Victor and Driggs accounted for the majority of the activity in the post-Covid market (three out of four sales occurred in these two regions). Alta, Wyoming, however, generated $60M in dollar volume last year (a 135% increase over last year). Not to be outdone, Tetonia also saw a sharp uptick in activity with more than $121M in sales volume (a 110% increase over 2020).

Higher-end home sales made headlines (in 2019, 15 homes sold for more than $1m; last year that number grew to 96…), but the Teton Valley real estate market’s true story involves land sales. Two out of three sales in 2021—761 transactions in total—involved a vacant parcel of land.

Lack of inventory and escalating prices provide a challenge for potential buyers in a very strong “Seller’s Market,” but Teton Valley’s success over the last two years suggests Jackson Hole’s neighbor to the west is no longer simply a satellite market of northwestern Wyoming.

Land & Ranches

While inventory has dwindled as the Covid pandemic drags on, vacant land sales somehow managed to tally 10.3% more sales in 2021 compared to 2020 (761 sales last year vs. 690 twelve months ago). Of all real estate transaction types, vacant land was the only sector that managed to post an increase year-over-year for 2021.

The majority of last year’s gains occurred in Driggs, where transactions were up 33.2% to 249 transactions (and with a complementing dollar volume of $95.2M) in 2021.

Like all segments of the Teton Valley market, the median land price was up a staggering 91% in 2021. In 2020, the mid-point sale in the vacant land market was a 2.5-acre parcel in Victor that sold for $89,000. One year later, the middle of the market was a 1-acre parcel in Victor that sold for $170,000.

Under all is the land—and buyers’ appetites for elbow room and sweeping views suggest the vacant land sector will continue to drive the Teton Valley market in 2022.

Condominiums/Townhomes

For the limited number of homes currently on the market in Teton Valley (35), the average listing price now exceeds $2M. Of those 35 homes, only six have a listing price of less than $1M.

Townhomes and condos in Teton Valley are isolated to a finite number of communities around Victor and Driggs, and—again, much like other market sectors—high demand pushed prices higher in 2021 in the face of limited inventory.

Unit sales were down last year 14.1% (79 transactions in 2021 vs. 92 sales the year prior). In 2020, the median sale was a 3-bedroom Buffalo Junction townhome in Driggs for $304,500 (or $198/sq. ft.). Toward the end of 2021, a similar unit sold for $492,500 (a 61.7% increase equating to $320/sq. ft.).

Single Family Homes

With limited choices available for both potential year-round and seasonal buyers, no segment of the market saw more pressure and competition in 2021 than residential homes in Teton Valley.

The total number of sales was down slightly at 7.8% (284 sales in 2021 compared to 308 transations in 2020), but the corresponding dollar volume grew 41.7% to more than $300M (and keeping in mind too the entire Teton Valley market in 2020 was $364.4M).

Sales in resort communities like Teton Springs and Tributary pushed the average home price to $1.089M, but the median price also increased 30.4% from $575,000 in 2020 (for a 2,300 sq. ft., 3-bedroom home on 2.5 acres in Victor) to $750,000 in 2021 (for a 2,100 sq. ft., 3-bedroom home on 2.5 acres in Driggs).

While Driggs was one of two areas that saw an increase in unit sales year-over-year (up 11.8% with 95 transactions in 2021), home sales in Tetonia stood out with 47 transactions in 2021 (a 38.2% increase) and a complementing dollar volume of $39.6M (a 68.6% increase over 2020).