The allure, flexibility, and outright necessity of remote work during the pandemic bought major shifts to the housing market starting in 2022. Affluent Americans took advantage of market conditions to move out of pandemic hotspots (mainly cities) and flocked to the suburbs and beyond seeking a lower cost of living, larger properties, and a slower pace of life.
According to a recent report from Redfin [1], homebuyer demand for second homes and investment properties were up 87% from pre-pandemic levels. Demand for second-home mortgages is outpacing demand for primary residences which is up 42% from pre-pandemic levels.
The vacation home boom has also affected home prices in seasonal towns with rates up 20% outpacing non-seasonal towns and is expected to continue throughout 2022.
Knowing this, ATTOM Data [2], a curator of nationwide property data, partnered with ZRankings.com [3], a website specializing in analyzing “seemingly immeasurable” amounts of data on North American ski resorts, to find out if seeking a second home in a resort town is worth the risk.
When combining ZRankings list of top U.S. ski resorts with ATTOM’s real estate data, it was found that Pitkin County, Colorado (home to the Aspen Snowmass Ski Resort) had the highest median home sales price in 2021 standing at $1.69 million, which was up 39% from 2020. This was followed by Teton County, Wyoming (home to the Jackson Hole Ski Resort) where the median home went for $1.28 million, up 34% from 2020; and San Miguel, Colorado (Telluride Ski Resort) where homes went for $1.28 million, up 26% year over year.
Diving deeper into these three locations, it was found that these three counties also ranked highest in terms of five-year home price growth─San Miguel County saw the highest growth, gaining 143% since 2016.Teton County followed realizing gains of 138% and Pitkin County, which saw homes increase by 125% since 2016.
When Comparing return on investment (ROI) compared to the original purchase price, Teton County again placed first realizing a 105% R0I or a $659,875 profit. This is followed by Routt County, Colorado (home to Steamboat Springs Ski Resort) which saw a 92% or $318,500 R0I. The average home seller in these two counties more than doubled that of the nationwide ROI of 45%.
