David Baldinger Jr., a principal in Steamboat Village Brokers, agrees that the advent of new products in a couple of years will signal a change in the market. Current property owners are taking a wait-and-see attitude as projects such as One Steamboat Place go through their marketing period, he said. At present, inventory is restricted and there isn't a lot for those owners to trade up to.
"Everyone is holding and remodeling," he said. "In 24 months, you'll see the inventory expand."
The sale of the Steamboat Ski Area for $265 million to Fortress Investments/Intrawest, coupled with a drop in interest rates, is helping fuel interest in the Steamboat real estate market.
Baldinger Jr. said it would be a mischaracterization to describe the first-quarter jump as an "Intrawest bounce."
He said in the case of Steamboat, some of the highest quality developers already working in the Western United States preceded Intrawest's arrival here. In some regards, it was a reversal of the normal pattern, he said.
The current scarcity of listings is a result of very few new projects beginning three to four years ago. He doesn't expect the local market to overheat, Baldinger Jr. said, because the typical Steamboat buyer goes through a multi-year cycle beginning with vacation trips to the valley.
He is encouraged by the decisions he sees current developers making.
"The developers are doing a lot more research about what the market needs," Baldinger Jr. said. "They are talking to each other more than ever to avoid going head to head. That's something that's really good for Steamboat."
Article from the Steamboat Pilot. 4/22/07.
Comments(0)