The 24th Annual Real Estate Forecast was live and in-person after going virtual for three years due to Covid-19. Hosted in the ballroom at Fort Lewis College, we welcomed nearly 150 guests to engage in the presentation. It was great to see everyone in person for this event again!
Kicking things off, John Wells, owner of The Wells Group, and Bob Allen, a local appraiser and owner of Allen & Associates, recapped the 2023 La Plata County real estate market. They focused on supply and demand, in-bound and out-bound migration, and local factors such as unemployment rates, tourism, and community projects. Bob Allen added input regarding how residential projects, especially high-density multi-family complexes positively impact the market. Affordable units, deed restriction, workforce housing, and buyer assistance programs are always a hot topic in our community with elevated median and average home prices. John noted that the luxury market has been reported as $1,000,000+ for many years but should truly be measured as the top 10% of residential sales for the previous calendar year. In La Plata County, based off of 2023, the luxury market is defined at $1,450,000 and above.
For the second part, we were joined by Eva Henson, City of Durango’s Housing Innovation Manager, Nicol Killian, Town of Bayfield’s Community Development Director, and Lynn Hyde, La Plata County’s Community Development Director. They all shared many successes throughout the county over the past year and outlined ambitious goals to reach in 2024 as well. A number of housing developments are in the pipeline including: Residences at Durango, Twin Buttes, Durango Crossings, and The Affinity Apartments in Durango alongside Clover Meadows 7, Mustang Crossing, Orchard Units, MarLin Tiny Home Village, Bayfield East, Cinnamon Heights, Pine River Commons, Ironton, and Clover Meadows 8 in Bayfield.
We are excited to see these projects come to fruition and look forward to seeing where this year leads our real estate market. A video recording and the entire slide deck is available to review online here. Please do not hesitate to contact us for more market information or questions from this year’s forecast presentation.
