By Matt Hoisch

The real estate market in the Telluride area is seeing a surge amidst the coronavirus.

“We’re seeing unprecedented activity this summer,” says Ellen Williamson, a broker with Telluride Properties. “Typically we don’t see any activity until the end of the season. And it just started gangbusters, June first.”

Teddy Errico, a realtor with LIV Southeby’s, also sees the rise. “We are seeing a little bit of a frenzy right now as people are looking to either escape more dense areas in the cities, or they’re finally prioritizing their purchase in Telluride,” he explains. “So the activity has never been greater since—since pre-recession.”

And that increased interest is translating into quicker sales and higher prices. Often, Williamson says, people can take years to think about buying property in the area. Now, sales are contracting quickly—in a matter of days. She also explains typically buyers negotiate down from a list price. Sellers try to get within 10% of the ask and settling around a 5% decrease is good. But now, she says, they’re seeing properties contract within 1% of the ask price.

“We’re seeing things go under contract at near full price,” she explains. “And that just has been unprecedented.”

And, Williamson notes, people are buying for different reasons. Thanks to the coronavirus, more and more buyers see Telluride as a safe, stable place. They don’t just want to rent out their property. They want to live in it.

“There are a lot of people who are real estate investors here, and they’ll buy as an investment,” she says. “But [now] we’re seeing a lot of buyers who really are just buying for themselves.”

Technology has helped overcome the challenge of distance. Thanks to pandemic-induced working from home, Williamson explains, people are more comfortable considering living in more remote areas like Telluride. Errico notes tech has also helped boost buys in other ways.

“With virtual tours and lots of really professional photography,” he says, “people aren’t scared of making offers site unseen.”

He anticipates local realtors will continue using those new tech methods beyond the pandemic.

The recent boost, however, hasn’t come out of nowhere. According to Scott Benge, Chief Operations Officer with Telluride Consulting, the regional real estate market has been really strong for the last year. Telluride Consulting’s monthly real estate report for June shows that San Miguel County closed out the first half of 2020 with a 26% increase in dollar volume of real estate sales compared to the prior 5 year average. So, Benge says it’s more that the region is continuing a trend that’s been building since pre-COVID. But even continuing the trend has been a bit of a surprise.

“I don’t think we saw the slowdown that people expected due to COVID,” he notes.

Still Benge won’t predict whether the boom carries on through the rest of the year. A lot is uncertain, especially, he notes, whether an increase in COVID cases when the weather cools leads to increased restrictions in the region.

“So for now the new normal seems to have pushed buyers to our local real estate to escape the big cities and enjoy the outdoor actives,” he says. “So I think that’s kind of why we’re continuing to see that here in the summer. Winter could be a different story, potentially.”

For now at least, Telluride’s summer of sales is thanks to two things: a pandemic and location, location, location.