Park City Real Estate Market Update - Looking at Old Town Homes for Sale

Posted by Sean Matyja on Monday, November 12th, 2012 at 7:00pm.

Old Town is one of the most popular choices for out-of-state buyers looking to purchase property in Park City and Deer Valley, Utah. Historic Main Street is the hub of recreation for both visitors and residents in Park City. Walk up and down this eclectic and historic street and you will find many retail and clothing stores, art galleries, real estate offices, coffee shops, casual and fine dining, and bars and private clubs (a Utah thing) offering a vibrant and energetic atmosphere not typically associated with the state of Utah (Utah gets made fun of quite often on TV!). This is the heart of the community, and therefore is one of the most sought after locations to live and own property.

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Photo of Park City's Old Town and Park City Mountain Resort

The homes near Old Town's Main Street are typically smaller than other communities, but cost about the same. For example, in Park Meadows you can by a nice home for $1,400,000 and it might be about 5,000 square feet in size. In Old Town, if near Main Street or the Town Lift that same $1,400,000 might only get you a home that is about half the size at 2,500 square feet. Do the math and the price per square foot goes through the roof! On the Park Meadows home the price per square foot would calculate to $280 per square foot. But the Old Town home would be at $560 per square foot! Buyers love to talk price per square foot, and although it can be a helpful tool in calculating a home's value, it does not alwsy work well, such as in the case of comparing large homes to smaller homes and in this case. In Old Town it is typical to see a range of about $450 - $750 price per square foot.

Homes for Sale In Park City's Old Town

Currently in Old Town there are 42 single family homes for sale. The pricing of the homes ranges widely from $390,000 to $8,640,000. The average for listed homes for sale is $1,478,000. The homes range in size from 496 to 9,359 square feet and the average size is 2,580. The price per square foot of the listed homes ranges from $310 to $1147 per square foot, with an average of $529. WOW! What a "mixed bag" of properties right?

Pricing in Old Town varies so widely because the type of property you will find for sale varies so widely. You can be standing in front of a historic miner's cottage that was built in the early 1900's that looks as though it should be condemned, yet houses 8 ski bums working the lifts. Next door you might have a newly built custom luxury home with 5 bedrooms suites and the absolute finest in finishes and detail - and this home just might sit on the ski run with ski-in, ski-out access and big views overlooking town. Thats a huge difference in properties... and that is exactly what you often see in Old Town.

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The Park City Mountain Resort "Town Lift" transports skiers from Main Street

The other major factor is location. As with any community, location matters largely in the value of a property. In Old Town it changes value huge. Depending on if you are on one street or another, or one block or another, the quality of the walkability changes dramatically. You can look at one home a few doors down from the ski run, and walking to skiing appears to be quite easy. If you simply go up one street, and over one block, that ease of walking to skiing changes substantially. Basically we often explain it like this - If you can walk little kids to the ski run, without tears or complaining, then you are within reasonable walking distance.

Sales Activity for Homes in Old Town

Activity in Old Town has been quite good recently. Looking back at just the last 6 months there have been 21 closed sales, with 10 more currently pending sale (in escrow). For the closed sales the sold price range was from $375,000 to $1,775,000 with an average at $823,000. The homes price per square foot had a range from $205 to $614 with an average of $401. Much lower price ranges in the actual closed sales from the currently listed properties. It does appear that many of the better deals, and low priced inventory has been getting sold.

If we look back for all of 2012 year to date, we see a total of 40 closed sales! Looking at this sample of sale data we see a range in sold prices from $375,00 up to $2,850,000 with an average at $988,500 - a little higher in sold prices. In price per square foot we see a range of $205 to $614 with an average of $399 - basically the same.

The good news is that activity is looking good. 40 homes have closed so far this year, and 10 more are under contract. That should place us at about 50 homes sold for 2012. In 2011 we saw 46 sales ranging in price from only $165,000 to $1,999,999 with an average of $891,500. The price per square foot range was from $140 to $638 with an average of $366.

Understanding Real Estate in Old Town

Now we can look at charts and graphs all day long, and we can pull out our calculators and compare values and averages all day long. But in Old Town it is important to remember that the neighborhood has many special and unique aspects that go well beyond normal property valuation methods. You really do need to look at each property individually. You need to focus on the structure and construction quality of the home. The layout, the floorplan and the room count. And then factor in the location - how are the views, and where is Main Street and the ski access? Then and only then can you really come up with an accurate valuation of the property. This is why when looking at real estate options in Old Town you must engage the services of a local Park City Realtor who specializes in the Old Town market.

Old Town Property Specialists

We have extensive experience in Old Town and are considered by our peers as the Old Town experts. If you are looking at property in Park City, and if Old Town is on your list (it should be!) we can be of value and help to you. For this area, you should not attempt to search for property for sale on your own. Use our Old Town Property Search to find homes that interest you, save them as favorites, then lets talk together and set up a property tour to see what wil be the best fit, and the best value for you. We are local Park City Realtors specializing in Old Town and we are here to help you! 

Sean Matyja - Realtor® / Associate Broker
Mobile: (435) 901-2158 | Email: sean@enjoyparkcity.com 

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