May brought an energy uptick to the Park City real estate market delivering the most prolific month for closings year-to-date. 94 residential transactions continues to lag historic averages but represents the greatest quantity of sales since September 2022.
The merciful end of an abundant winter combined with a slight improvement in the number of available listings to deliver this bump in activity after a lackluster start to the year. While rising interest rates are not a major impediment to demand with Park City’s cash-capable clientele, the tipping point after which travel to the region became challenged coincided with uncertainty in the banking sector to stymie activity into early spring.
Despite comparatively poor transaction counts, pricing has remained remarkably stable on a monthly and year-over-year basis.
The average sales price has actually grown 3% over 2022’s figure driven by already 7 home sales above $10,000,000 (compared to 10 in all of 2022). Median price has lagged a mere 4% year-over-year consistent with national trends.
Typical of the season, the greatest concentration of premium sales was focused around Deer Valley in the waning months of ski season. Atypical was the quantity of 8-figure transactions including two in Empire Pass and one each in Deer Crest and Evergreen.
The number of available listings has crept above 500 for the first time all year; consistent with typical trends in which much of the year’s supply arrives right around Memorial Day. This equates to just over 5 months of inventory ahead of the busiest season for real estate; a quantity creeping closer to a neutral market than has been the case for many years.
Despite these factors, buyer demand continues to be strong though actions are more deliberate than over the frenzied conditions from the last several years. Ample demand combined with patient sellers lacking and perceptible form of distress are likely to result in conditions where pricing holds but does not meaningfully increase while transactions underperform historic averages but keep a steady churn of deals in production.
