Good day from snowy Crested Butte!

Denver-based BBC Research and Consulting (their website) just finished a Gunnison/Crested Butte housing needs assessment report and if you've lived here since 2000, the results are not surprising. Our population growth is flat, the number of new vacation homes has climbed significantly and our real estate prices are more expensive.

Home ownership in Crested Butte and Mt. Crested Butte has become particularly challenging and in Gunnison owning a home is no cake walk either. BBC's rep told the Gunnison County Commissioners last week that "a person who moved to the Gunnison Valley and purchased a home in 2000 would need to make nearly $65,000 more annually in 2009 to afford the same home. If they moved farther north to the Crested Butte area, their income in 2009 would have to be about $150,000 higher than it was in 2000 to afford the same home."

BBC's representative revealed that population growth since 2000 has been “modest, especially relative to other resort communities,” averaging about 1 percent annually. Since the 2000 census, the county’s population has grown by 7.8 percent but the number of housing units has increased 19.6 percent.

“Seasonal homes have driven the new home construction and the price increase. You can see that since 2000, the county has added more than 1,200 new seasonal homes. Price increases have been extreme in Crested Butte. The median home value has gone up by more than $500,000 since 2000”, BBC's rep added. What does this mean? Over 40 percent of homes in Gunnison County are now considered "vacant homes" - they sit empty or are utilized on a seasonal basis only.

According to a resident's survey used in BBC's assessment, most people in our valley are satisfied with their current housing situation - 81% actually. But most folks also recognize the barriers to home ownership are high and it doesn't appear to be getting easier to buy a house in this County in spite of the national real estate downturn and local market price reductions.

What's New In Crested Butte:

The 2009-2010 ski season at Crested Butte Mountain Resort (CBMR) begins November 25. (their website)

CBMR has remodeled their notorious on-hill bar/restaurant: The Ice Bar. The Ice Bar restaurant remodel doubles the size of the existing space increasing the capacity to 63 in the dining room, 12-15 in the lounge and 20 at the outside bar. They've also improved their Red Lady Tubing Hill amenity by adding a new surface lift to drag folks up to the top of the tubing lanes. And, the base area's new and popular Adventure Park, complete with year-round ice-skating, bungee trampolines and a climbing wall will remain open throughout the winter months.

Thanks for reading today!

Channing Boucher
Benson Sotheby's International Realty
Local Knowledge Global Reach