Western resort towns see record-breaking real estate prices — and housing woes

Brandon Whitesell vividly remembers visiting Jackson Hole, Wyoming, for the first time in 2007. He became immediately enamored of the national parks in the area like Yellowstone and was especially drawn to the wildlife.

“We saw, you know, 100 elk,” he said. “Then you see pronghorn, and then moose. There’s no place like that in the United States, really.”

Whitesell was hooked. He’s a former real estate developer who was financially stable enough to retire young. In 2018, he moved to Jackson full time. Now, he snowboards, mountain bikes, has a music show at the local community radio station and explores Wyoming with his wife and son.

“It really is this beautiful utopia,” Whitesell said. “It’s a bubble.”

That bubble keeps getting more expensive. Last year, the average single-family home price topped $5 million, according to a real estate report on the area. This is a record-breaking figure, and prices are almost double their level just three years ago.

Other locals like Ariel Kazunas, who works for a nonprofit, are being priced out by that rapid change. She said there’s new construction all over her neighborhood.

“A lot of homes are just getting straight-up demolished to make room for bigger homes that are selling for a lot more than anyone I know can afford,” she said.

Last year, out of nearly 200 single-family homes that sold in Jackson Hole, only two closed at less than $1 million. Kazunas said many of her friends — even doctors and lawyers — are moving away. And she’s thought about it too.

“It sits wrong that just because I don’t have millions of dollars, I shouldn’t get to live where I want to live,” she said.

Jackson’s housing trends aren’t unique in the West. Lake Tahoe in California and Nevada and parts of Park City, Utah, also saw prices reach records last year. In Colorado mountain towns, a recent survey showed that 31% of long-term renters say they have “severe” difficulties finding a place to live.

Dan Dockray, a real estate agent in Telluride, Colorado, has observed that the pandemic prompted more ultrawealthy people to hunt for homes in the mountains.

“People were locked down, and they kind of said, ‘What am I doing with my life?’” he said. “And they said, ‘Part of that is I want to prioritize lifestyle.’”

Adding to the housing crunch is a lack of supply. The elevated cost of building materials, transportation and labor is holding back construction, Dockray said. So people are competing for a small number of available properties.

Still, Dockray was expecting fewer buyers last year because of macroeconomic pressures like rising interest rates. He said last year’s demand caught him by surprise, and now he expects prices to keep going up.

“I think we’re gonna see demand become stronger by summer as people realize we’re either in a recession or we’re not,” he said.

In the meantime, towns are looking for new ways to keep their local workforce. That includes down-payment assistance programs and allowing denser neighborhoods. The question is, will that be enough when so many wealthy people want their own personal paradise in the mountains — no matter the cost.