The residential real estate market in Montezuma County picked up in the fourth quarter of 2014, according to recent numbers released by the Four Corners Board of Realtors.
The fourth quarter data was captured from Oct. 1 to Dec. 31, 2014.
The report, compiled by the Colorado Real Estate Network using the area's Multiple List Service data, indicates that sold listings county-wide were up 6.8 percent from the same quarter last year.
The county-wide median sale price was also up 16.9 percent from the previous year, coming in at $180,000 compared to $154,000 in 2013.
The average sale price county-wide was up 14 percent from same quarter last year, or $191,021 compared to the $167,519 recorded in 2013. The cumulative days a Montezuma County property sat on the market until sale were also down slightly, from 216 days in 2013 to 213 days in fourth quarter 2014.
Total sold listings in 2014 came out to 309 compared at 273 the previous year, a 13.2 percent increase.
Just looking at Cortez, sold listings were up 7.1 percent, translating to 45 properties sold during the fourth quarter compared to 42 the same quarter in 2014. The average sales price was up 14.6 percent to $163,216.
Looking at 2014 as a whole, the average sales price was up 10.7 percent from 2013 at $159,268.
Dolores saw 18 sold listings in the fourth quarter of 2014, compared to the 13 sold in fourth quarter of 2013. The average sales price saw a noteworthy jump from $235,481 in 2013 to $260,299 in 2014. Comparing 2014 as a whole to the previous year, average sales prices were up 21 percent, or $278,542 compared to $228,625. For the year, 59 homes were sold in Dolores, according to the data.
Mancos saw a slight decline in the number of homes sold for the quarter, 11 compared to 17 the same quarter the previous year. Average sales price in the fourth quarter came in around $206,991 compared to $186,814 the same quarter in 2013. Looking at 2014 as a whole, the average sales saw 29.6 percent jump from $156,250 in 2013 to $202,500 in 2014.
Carol Click, president of the Four Corners Board of Realtors and broker/owner of RE/MAX Mesa Verde Realty said the increases seen in the county as a whole weren't very large but the market remains stable - a luxury that many other larger markets don't quite have.
"Even when the market went down [in 2008] we went down, but not as much as some of the other areas, we've never really dropped and came back up drastically, we're a lot more stable than other areas," said Click.
Click also noted that the foreclosure rate has dropped drastically since the height of the recession, a sign of a healthy local economy.
"We're about 24 to 36 months behind trends that hit metro areas," Click noted.
Bonnie Leighton, broker with Southwest Realty and director of the Four Corners Board of Realtors, said that homes under $200,000 are selling the best and usually are sought after by buyers downsizing for retirement.
After a strong close to 2014, Leighton says she's optimistic about momentum continuing this year noting that the local economy isn't completely immune to national and global economic turmoil.