2015 through October shows continued recovery in most geographic sectors of the broader Blaine County market. It could be described as a top down and bottom up market with the middle less active than the big improvement of 2014.

Total YTD sales volume is up from the same period 2014 so the year end results could show a solidified improvement of market conditions.

Hailey and Bellevue markets are clearly improving with higher volume of total sales, up 48%, and average sale price up 3%. Below Bellevue in the South County the Farm and Ranch sector is still in the doldrums.

North of Ketchum sales, lackluster in 2014, rebounded with 81% more sales and 31% increase in average price. Similarly Sun Valley showed a 100% increase in both number of sales and total volume. Elkhorn has experienced a slight increase in the number of sales with a slight decrease in average price. The performance in these sectors shows the increasingly discriminating demand of high end buyers for high quality product. Properties with depreciation or obsolescence have caused the average prices to be an inaccurate indicator of upper end product value level.

2015 has experience a number of sales of improved property that can still be considered great buys as compared to replacement cost. This contributes to the softness of the vacant land market, even though there have been record sale prices at the very upper end; an example of the top down phenomena… With this said, there is a limited inventory of quality vacant lots, so the opportunity to buy is now!

Perhaps the biggest indicator is the existence of new product under construction in down town Ketchum and Sun Valley to satisfy the demand for prime location and new product. Expect to see a diminishing supply of inventory in 2016!