Economic News turns favorable

Economist Richard Wobbekind at the University of Colorado's Leeds School of Business has announced at the 46th Annual Economic Outlook Forum that our state should experience slow but steady growth in the year 2011. Stating that 'we would all like a more rapid recovery, especially in terms of jobs, we are just not going to see that yet.' Overall his forecast calls for a gain of 10,100 jobs in the next year, but this compares to the 140,000 jobs the state lost in 2009 and 2010. Unfortunately for the Vail Valley, he stills sees the construction industry as shedding jobs in the next year. On the other hand he sees one of the growth sectors in leisure and hospitality. He states, 'All the job growth in these sectors is still subpar in historical context. It will not be enought to bring down the unemployment rate in any meaningful way or to create great momentum in the state economy." The biggest loser in terms of jobs will be in the construction industry, which could lose as many as 7,000 jobs in 2011.
The good news was in Wednesday's Vail Daily where Vail Resorts announced that, although the first quarter of their fiscal year is usually a low spot for earnings, that Net Revenues were up across the board for the company. Lodging was up 7.3 from last year and Mountain Revenue was up 4 %. Real estate new revenue was $143 million for the first quarter, which mainly reflects the sale of Ritz Carlton units with an average sales price of $2.6 million. During this period the company acquired Specialty Sports Venture stores, which they expect to offset losses for the entire year. They also acquired Northstar at Tahoe, which adds one more ski area to the Epic Pass family of ski areas. The most encouraging sign was that Season Pass sales improved in the Fall by 5% in terms of number of passes sold and by 7% in dollar volume.
All of the above information indicates to me that, while we are not out of the hole, there is a sign that we are reaching the bottom of the downturn and as the economy improves, so will the real estate market. Call Judd Babcock today for your personal evaluation on when to start buying again.