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Real estate prices in Eagle County are still on the way up, but not as dramatically as they were in the first years of this decade.

According to August data from Land Title Guarantee Company, overall prices through August were up 9% from the same period in 2024. But the neighborhood breakdown has some big swings. The biggest of those swings came in areas with relatively few sales.

Wolcott, for instance, saw an increase of 158% in sales from one year to the next.

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That isn’t enough data to establish a trend. Mark Gordon of Christiania Realty in Vail said not even areas with several sales — places including Avon, Edwards, Eagle and Gypsum — don’t provide enough data to establish firm trends.

The sales statistics are a useful tool, Gordon said, but raw sales numbers can’t be a “be-all and end-all” source of information. Gordon noted that the raw numbers don’t indicate the age of units sold, for instance, or the neighborhoods in which homes were sold.

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For instance, Matt Fitzgerald, the Eagle County market president of Slifer Smith & Frampton, noted that the numbers from Eagle don’t include the fact that recent sales from that area include a pair of $4 million home sales.

“A lot more price fluctuation depends on a specific property than trends,” Gordon said.

But, he added, it seems that the valley’s real estate market is moving toward a more “healthy” state.

“There’s been a flattening of appreciation,” Gordon said, adding that there’s been depreciation in some areas.

Michael Slevin, president and owner of Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Colorado Properties, said the move to a more balanced market is due to market forces, rather than outside effects, taking hold locally.

That includes more “normalized” interest rates, Slevin added. Those rates have been easing down over the past few weeks in anticipation of Wednesday’s move by the

In addition to easing interest rates, “buyer activity is strong,” Slevin said, adding that some sellers are seeing multiple offers for their homes.

But Ron Goldberg of Keller Williams Mountain Properties said many properties are seeing price adjustments before they sell, and days on the market are increasing.

“We’re seeing between eight and 14 properties a day coming on the market,” Goldberg said. People are realizing there’s more inventory.

“Things that are priced right are moving pretty quickly,” Goldberg said. “Stuff that’s still outlandishly priced” is going to be on the market for a while, he added.

Slevin said interest rates should continue to ease in the wake of Wednesday’s move by the Federal Reserve. He expects rates to settle in the 5% range in 2025. That’s a “good rate,” Slevin said, adding that, absent a crisis, it’s unlikely we’ll see rates in the 2% to 3% range again. Still, he added, mortgages at 5% could be enough to entice people to think about moving out of their current homes.

Lower interest rates provide more purchasing power to buyers, although first-time buyers are still in a tough spot in Eagle County. There was just one home in August that sold for $500,000 or less.

But, Slevin noted, there are “strong programs to help locals get into a home. I encourage anyone who’s looking… to explore the options that are available.”