MAMMOTH CONDO PRICES JUMP!

The lack of snow didn't keep real estate shoppers from snapping up Mammoth Lakes condos and homes in the first quarter of this election year.

74 condos sold from January through March, off marginally from last year's first quarter sales of 78 condos. Interestingly, the median price jumped almost 21% to $268,750 from the 2011 median of $222,500. Reports have been dribbling in of price gains in better neighborhoods down South. Mammoth is a better neighborhood. Could we have turned the corner. In most cycles there are excesses at both the high and low ends so when the correction comes the first moves are often dramatic.This could be the bounce off the bottom we've long anticipated.

Supporting the notion of a stabilizing, if not recovering market, are the inventory numbers which remain remarkably benign in this dismal snow year. Just 161 condos are listed deep into April, and a paltry 64 homes.

Speaking of homes, sales ballooned to 20 transactions in Mammoth's 2012 first quarter, up nearly 50% from last year's 11 homes sold in the same period. While the median price sagged to $541,250 from 2011's first quarter median of $765,000, the absence of new REO listings could portend better times for Mammoth real estate. Just 2 REO's and 8 Short Sale listed homes, and one REO and 15 Short Sale condo listings muddy the pages of Mammoth's MLS.