Teton County, Wyoming — Q2 2022
To call the last couple years of the Jackson Hole real estate marketing “interesting” would be a gross understatement.
Trepidation during the early days of Covid was quickly displaced by the frenetic pace that endured for the next two years as droves of visitors and part-time residents sought refuge in northwestern Wyoming. With historically low mortgage interest rates and the uncertainty of a global pandemic, a higher-than-normal percentage of visitors and locals purchased real estate in and around Teton County.
Today—as interest rates climb upward and as equity markets correct—the summer Jackson Hole real estate market appears to have two major forces shaping the remainder of 2022: the inventory of property available for sale is slowly creeping upward for the first time in two years (at the moment, the 92 homes for sale in Teton County represent a 20% increase over the same period last year), and the number of sales is seeing a decline from the record-setting stats of 2020 and 2021.
But even with the dip in overall transactions, individual property prices continue to set new high water marks. This is particularly evident in the upper end of the Jackson Hole market (that is, listings priced in excess of $5M) where the 26 closings in 2022 generated more than $200M in sales volume (or 45.8% of the YTD Teton County total).
The spring and early summer closure of the Jackson Hole Airport limited the number of visitors in the region and led many intent sellers to delay officially listing their property until the reopening (potentially influencing the 54% decrease in sales for May and June year-over-year). With non-stop flights from 18 cities back in service the Jackson Hole region stands poised for another busy summer season.
CONDOMINIUMS/TOWNHOMES
Like the rest of the Teton County market, condo and townhome sales saw a downturn in transactions for the first six months of 2022, with transactions dropping 56.3% (from 93 sales in 2021 to 42 sales in 2022). Conversely, inventory for this market segment grew 60% year-over-year from 25 condos/townhomes on the market in 2021 vs. 40 condos/townhomes for sale as of July 1st.
It’s worth noting a “60% increase in inventory” over the same period in 2021 equates to an additional 15 units for sale in Teton Village, the Aspens, the town of Jackson and the like. In this finite market, it’s not uncommon for one business relocating its employees to tax-friendly Wyoming or a handful of existing property owners downsizing from a more substantial home to a townhome to have a noticeable impact in this segment of the market.
That said, the average sale price grew from $1.2M in 2021 to nearly $1.9M in 2022. The median sale for 2022 was a 2-bedroom, 1,200-sq.ft. townhouse at Spring Creek Ranch that sold for more than $1.4M (or nearly $1,200/sq.ft.).
SINGLE FAMILY HOMES
For 2022, half of all sales in Teton County involved an existing home. While there are slightly more choices for potential home buyers in 2022 (ranging in price from $1.6M to more than $30M), escalating prices have kept some buyers on the sidelines despite a slowdown in transactions in this market segment.
The 65 sold homes on the YTD accounted for nearly $300M in sales volume for the Jackson Hole market (or 66% of the total market volume), and the average sale price grew 7.3% in 2022 to more than $4.5M.
In 2021, the median home sale through Q2 was a 4-bedroom, 3,500 sq.ft. home in South Park that sold for just over $3M. Twelve months later, however, the median home sale involved 4-bedroom, 3,600 sq.ft. home on West Gros Ventre Butte for nearly $3.6M (or a 20% increase in median home value in the last 12 months).
LAND & RANCHES
With only 49 vacant parcels of land currently on the market in Teton County ranging from $1.1M to $50M, it would seem statistically impossible for the market to eclipse last year’s year-to-date land sales (where 57 vacant parcels closed by the end of Q2 vs. 16 sales for the same period in 2022). As has been the story for more than three decades, the scarcity of privately held land in Teton County continues to limit activity in this market segment.
Even with the 72% decline in sales for the first six months of 2022, the average sale price for raw land in 2022 increased 6.8% (from $2.79M last year to $2.98M this year), and the median land sale for 2022 grew 22.8% to $2.15M (for a vacant parcel north of town in Solitude).
Escalating construction costs and Covid supply chain issues have surely impacted this segment of the market as well. Depending on the caliber and scope of the design, construction costs in Teton County are exceeding $1000/sq.ft. in many cases and a shortage of labor and vendors push the typical build time out to more than two years.