Eagle County’s COVID-era real estate boom has made it harder than ever for first-time buyers to break into the market
Only Gypsum, Red Cliff median prices below $1 million
Nate Peterson/Vail Daily
The COVID-era real estate boom caused a remarkable four-year run-up in real estate prices in Eagle County. That was great news for sellers, but bad news for first-time buyers.
The news about the valley’s real estate prices is just some of the data being collected by Economic & Planning Systems and RRC Associates for a regional housing needs assessment being done by the county.
According to regional data from Economic & Planning Systems and RRC Associates:
- The 2022 median annual income for a worker in Eagle County was $52,900.
- The median-priced home in Gypsum is just more than $700,000.
- A household would need 3.7 workers earning the median annual income to afford that home.
- A household would need 10.5 full-time workers earning the median annual incomce to afford a median-priced home in that area. That includes resort areas.
According to that data, prices on average rose by 2.9% per year in the Eagle River Valley. Prices between 2019 and 2023, the years including the COVID-era real estate boom, rose by an average of 15.7% per year.
The increases were most pronounced in Avon and Edwards which both increased by about 20% per year. Prices in Eagle rose by nearly 17% per year, and prices in Gypsum rose by nearly 13% per year.
Those increases drove the median home price throughout the county above $1 million in all the valley’s towns, except for Gypsum and Red Cliff. That includes all home types, from condos to single-family units, except mobile homes.
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In a Tuesday presentation to the Eagle County Board of Commissioners, Rachel Shindman of Economic & Planning Systems said prices have nearly doubled for condos and townhomes around the valley. That’s affected affordability, of course.
The median income in the valley is roughly $53,000 per year. That wage makes it “difficult to impossible to live as a single person,” in the valley, Shindman said.
That’s true for both renters and buyers.
In 2023, 5% of all units were affordable to a three-person household earning 120% of the area median income. Even in Gypsum, a two-person household earning 100% of the area median income can’t afford a median-priced home in that community. In fact, four people earning the median wage are needed to buy a median-priced home in Gypsum.
The rental picture largely reflects the run-up in prices.
Shindman said rental data is harder to track. Data so far indicates that the median rent is just less than $1,900 per month, but, Shindman said, anecdotal data would dispute that number.
Anecdotally, Shindman said “we’re hearing” that per-bedroom prices are between $1,500 and $1,900 per month.
The needs assessment is still in process, and more information will be presented to both county and town officials later this year.
As more information becomes available, Commissioner Kathy Chandler-Henry said “We need to focus on the big goal 鈥� what people need to stay here.”
