Star Valley, Wyoming & Idaho — Q1 2023

Following the trends in the overall Jackson Hole region, Star Valley saw a precipitous fall in the first quarter of 2023 compared to one year ago. Transactions fell from 126 sales in the first three months of 2022 to just 50 sales twelve months later (or a 60.3% decline). Sales volume followed suit, dropping 64.4% for the same period (or $65.7M in Q1 2022 vs. $23.4M in Q1 2023).

Despite the average transaction price dropping from $521,252 in Q1 2022 to $467,634 one year later, the median sale price actually jumped from $299,000 (for a 3.78-acre parcel near Alpine) to $370,000 (for a 6-acre parcel in Thayne) year over year.

Some of the disparity in the statistics is found in the upper end of the Star Valley market (or properties with a listing price of more than $1M). For the first three months of 2022, 16 properties sold in Star Valley with a complementing dollar volume of $32.3M (or nearly half of all dollar volume in the market). One year later, this segment of the market only posted 3 sales accounting for $5.3M.

The 23.7% increase in the median sale price for Q1 2023 suggests market demand is still strong heading into the summer season. And while inventory has increased since the height of the Covid frenzy (that is, 141 properties on the market at the end of Q1 2022 vs. 231 active listings this year), the looming busy summer season has the potential to absorb the level of properties currently on the market.

LAND & RANCHES

By the end of 2022, the majority of sales in Star Valley involved a vacant parcel of land (or 261 transactions of the total 502 sales on the year). 

For first quarter of 2023, vacant land transactions slipped to 40% of the overall sales (or 20 land sales out of 50 total transactions across all property types), possibly stifled by increasing interest rates and still-elevated building costs. The median land sale year over year, however, increased from $139,000 in Q1 2022 (for a 1.76-acre parcel in Freedom) to $241,530 (for 4.27-acre mixed-use parcel in Thayne) for the first three months of 2023.

 While the number of overall properties for sale increased 63.8% in the last 12 months, vacant land listings have only increased from 105 at the end of Q1 2022 to 142 vacant land parcels on the market one year later.

CONDOMINIUMS / TOWNHOMES

The newly completed Buffalo Sage Townhomes dominated the stats for this section of the Star Valley market in 2023.

Completed in 2022, the Buffalo Sage Townhomes are a 20-unit townhome complex in the Town of Alpine. Each of the units is one-half of a duplex and features a floor plan of 1,145 sq.ft. with two-bedrooms and two-baths with an attached two-car garage.

In Q1 2023, six of the seven condo or townhome sales involved a Buffalo Sage unit (and with a median sale price equivalent to roughly $420/sq.ft.). One year ago, the lone sale in this segment of the market was a 4-bedroom, 3-bath, 2,400 sq.ft. townhome in the town of Alpine that sold for $550,000 (or approximately $230/sq.ft.)

SINGLE FAMILY HOMES

Rapidly escalating home prices during the pandemic were matched by an increased migration of people to northwestern Wyoming. Activity hit its peak in 2021, where the market saw nearly 1,000 transactions (with 316 of the sales involving an existing home).

The market pace tapered off in 2022 (where home transactions fell to 205) and sales are still finding their level in 2023. While many home buyers hailed from states like California, Utah and Texas, Bureau of Economic Analysis data shows than one in nine new residents in Star Valley is a transplant from Teton County, Wyoming.

While the average home price dropped from nearly $800,000 in Q1 2022 to $515,500 one year later, a disproportionate number of upper-end sales helped skew the stats from last year (and where nine homes with a listing price of more than $1M sold in 2022 compared to zero in 2023). In looking at the median home sales, we see a similar decline in the market from $609,000 last year (for a 3-bedroom, 2-bath 1,900 home on 2 acres in Nordic Ranches) to $415,000 this year (for a 3-bedroom, 2-bath 1,500 home on 0.62 acres in Star Valley Ranches).