MAMMOTH REAL ESTATE SALES, FIRST QUARTER RESULTS

It's snowing. Lumpy grapple. Some local forecasters are predicting up to 15 inches of accumulation on the upper reaches of Mammoth Mountain by the end of  Mother's Day weekend. Any new precipitation, any delay in the Spring melt, is welcome.

Mammoth Mountain Ski Area had it's best year in over 4 years in both revenue (details to come) and snowfall (358 inches and counting).  As 2016 began it seemed local real estate markets were responding. Especially the condo market. Inventories were trimmed back from more than 200 listings last summer to just over 150 by New Years Day. There was the giddy sense that, after an unusually long delay, we would follow the big price recoveries in real estate 'down south'.  Like our market (almost) always has. Well, not so fast.

Here are the numbers: 67 condos sold in the 2016 first quarter, compared with 66 during the same period in 2015. While the median price nudged up to $300,000 from $294,500 in 2015, the average price dropped 3.47% to $352,314 from $364,558. Condos listed for sale remain at a slim 156.

HOMES                                                     CONDOS

On the residential side, 16 homes sold in the first three months of this year compared with 18 in the first three of last year. The median price slipped 5% to $862,000; the average price declined by 27.5% to $927,285. Just 43 homes are offered for sale in Mammoth, a 4 year low.

Despite the climate change denialists, including one local weatherman, it appears that resort real estate shoppers are hedging their bets. What if Senator Jim Inhoffe is wrong. What if there's more than a snowball's chance that humans are largely responsible for global warming. 

Snow levels will rise and skiing will be affected. Happily Mammoth, with a summit of 11,053', is in the best position of any California ski area to weather that storm.