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The summer season is in full swing in Sun Valley, with outdoor activities galore during the warm August days and free live music filling the evening skies from the Sun Valley Symphony Pavilion to the Reggae tunes at Ketchum’s Forest Service Park.
Summer is also the busiest time for real estate sales in the Wood River Valley. Too often articles analyzing real estate activity focus on the most expensive sale in the neighborhood or the steal of the century on the other end of the price spectrum. Today we’d like to do something different and look at the median sale price in segments of our community. The median sale price means half the homes that have sold for more than the median amount and half sold for less. It’s the middle of the market and an area of interest to both buyers and sellers.
As of August 6, 2013 in the resort area surrounding Sun Valley, the median single family sale was located at 604 Elkhorn Road The buyers paid $900,000 for a 2,494 square foot home with two bedrooms and two baths on just over a one acre parcel. The home was built in 1994 with vaulted ceilings and log accents. Although it was located with easy access to Ketchum and Sun Valley, the property was located in a very private setting and offered abundant sun and gardening opportunities.
Last year at this time the median sale was a single family home located at 121 Picabo Street. That property sold for $950,000. The house was built in 1971 and had five bedrooms and contained 2,778 square feet. It was located a half-acre lot with immediate access to both the Warm Springs lifts and ski slopes. Given the rarity of true ski-in ski-out properties in Sun Valley, this home was highly sought after and went under contract after just 10 days on the market.
For the condo and townhouse market in the resort area, the median sale thus far in 2013 was 110 Wood River Drive. This condo was in the Snowstar complex and built in 1999. The unit featured three bedrooms, two baths and 1,252 livable square feet. It sold for $357,000. The HOA offers underground parking, hot tub , exercise area and easy access to the River Run Lodge and gondola. One year earlier, the median sale was in the Bigwood Condos on Saddle Road. This unit was built in 1973 and remodeled in 2000. It was 1,313 square feet in size with two bedrooms and two baths. It closed at $290,000 after three months on the market.
In the Hailey single family market, the median sale thus far in 2013 was located at 720 Sunrise drive in the Woodside neighborhood. It closed at $232,000 and featured 1,626 square with three bedrooms and two baths on a 12,000 square foot lot. It was built in 1991 and had a remodeled kitchen. The transaction closed after just 28 days on the market at $143.23 per square foot of livable space.
For 2012 in Hailey, the median sale as of early August was 2940 Glenbrook Drive which closed at $172,500. The home was built in 1999 and featured 1,577 square feet with three bedrooms, two baths and a quarter acre lot. It was on the market for 74 days from the list date until closing. With a closing price of $109.38 per square foot, these buyers paid nearly 30 percent less than what a similar home sold for in 2013.
The median price changes regularly as new sales are added into the equation. The goal of my newsletter topic today was simply to provide some insight into the middle of the market, rather than focusing on properties on the high and low ends. It’s always good to remember there are only two buyers and two sellers involved in those transactions, while the sweet spot for most real estate investors is somewhere in the middle. Please let me know if you have any questions or comments. I would be pleased to offer assistance.
