Sales of homes in Bayfield and the rural Bayfield area increased in 2014, but median sale prices were down slightly, according to the 2014 county real estate report from the Durango Area Association of Realtors.
Data is for sales through the Multiple Listing Service, so "by owner" sales wouldn't be included.
According to the report printed recently in the Durango Herald, 60 homes sold in Bayfield last year, up from 52 in 2013. Back in 2011, only 33 homes sold.
The median sale price in Bayfield last year was $249,500, down from $262,100 in 2013. Back in 2011, it was $223,500. Median price means half the sale prices were higher and half were lower. It's different from average, which can be skewed by an extreme on the high or low end.
Rural Bayfield area homes had 117 sales in 2014, up from 107 in 2013. In 2011, there were only 83 sales. The median price was $263,500 in 2014, down slightly from $265,000 in 2013. The Bayfield area median price hit a low of $198,320 in 2012.
Bayfield Realty owner Isaac Fleener said $361,900 was the highest price for a home sold in Bayfield in 2014. As for the Bayfield rural sales, 57 of those were in Forest Lakes in 2014, he said, up from 50 in 2013. Currently there are 13 Forest Lakes homes listed through MLS, plus four under contract.
Ignacio wasn't included in the report printed in the Herald, but Fleener said eight homes sold in Ignacio in 2014, up from two in 2013. "That's good, because it's a more affordable place to live. They have some good things going for them," he said, with their library, new schools, and the grocery store now under construction. "One of our agents just had a property under contract there," he said.
"Bayfield and Ignacio are remaining a lot more affordable than Durango, which is helping our sales," Fleener said.
Inventory in Bayfield is still limited, with around 14 homes in Bayfield currently listed through MLS, and another five under contract.
County-wide home sales, including Durango, totalled 1,031 in 2014, down five from 2013. But the total dollar amount was up, reflecting a higher median.
Sales totalled $405.5 million in 2014, up from $378.1 million in 2013.
The county-wide median price for 2014 was $336,900, up from $310,000 in 2013 and $301,849 in 2011, when 718 homes were sold. According to the Association of Realtors, the 2014 median price was close to the 2006 high of $340,000 when real estate was booming.
The 2014 median was pushed up by sales in and around Durango, and the Durango mountain area.
Home sales in Durango totalled 192 in 2014, up six from 2013. The median price hit $400,000 in 2014, up from $370,000 in 2013. The low median in Durango was in 2012 at $344,000.
The number of sales fell and the median price increased for condos and townhomes in Durango. The 2014 median was $272,265, up from $247,000 in 2013.
The number of Durango rural area home sales also fell while the median price increased. The median price hit $400,000, same as in the city. It was up from $376,000 in 2013. A total of 322 Durango rural area homes sold in 2014, down from 341 in 2013.
Durango mountain area homes are the high dollar market. The median price hit $629,000 in 2014, up from $606,500 in 2013. Twenty-nine homes sold in 2014, up from 24 in 2013.
County-wide residential land sales totalled 178 parcels in 2014, up from 168 in 2013. The median price was down - $119,450 in 2014 versus $129,437 in 2013. In 2012, the median price was $117,500, down from $120,000 in 2011.
The Association of Realtors reported especially strong sales in the fourth quarter of 2014, with 274 homes sold county-wide, up 18 percent from the fourth quarter of 2013. There were 40 sales of commercial property in 2014, up from 38 in 2013.
