Rain Rain Go Away

This has been the wettest June on record, 10 out of 11 days this month have seen rain. On the positive side, I have never seen the mountains so green and lush, the reservoirs are full and the fire danger is extremely low. This all bodes well for the upcoming hot months of July and August. Fortunately, the snow level has been above 10,000 feet so we have not had to deal with snow.

In real estate news, the market turn around that I first noticed in March, continued through April and really picked up some steam in May. Beginning last September we experienced a steadily declining number of sales here in Park City. March saw the first significant increase in both closed sales and the number of pending contracts written. As an example: in February 2009 the Park City Board reported 42 pended transactions. In March that number jumped to 70, increased again in April to 83, and in May the Park City Board reported 98 pended contracts. The same held true for closed transactions. In February there were 50 closed transactions, in March there were 63, April saw 60 closed transactions, and May jumped up to 73 closed transactions. This is particularly interesting because April and May tend to be very slow months with fewer sales than the traditional busy ski season months (December-March).

What does this mean? Anybody’s guess at this point. Is this a beginning to the recovery? Or is it just a false spike brought on by low prices and low interest rates? Only time will tell at this point, but here in Park City we are experiencing more optimism then we have for quite some time.
This Sunday the “Park Silly” market held on lower Main Street begins its summer season. This is an eco-friendly market featuring artists, crafts, music, locally grown produce and food booths from local chefs. There is always a lot of fun energy and it is a great way to end your week. Don’t worry, the sun will come out and it will warm up so plan a vacation to Park City and experience summertime in the mountains.