Aspen Home Sales Set New All-Time Records With Billionaire Mountain Leading the Way

COVID-19 Pandemic Spurs a $3.1 Billion Buying Spree

1/0

This 10,000 sq.ft. mansion on Aspen's Red Mountain, boasting views from Independence Pass to Mount Sopris, set a 2020 sales record price at $31.85 million. (Coldwell Banker photo)

The commanding view from the 10,000 sq.ft. mansion on Aspen's Red Mountain added to the allure that made it the top selling home of 2020. (Coldwell Banker photo)

Media Mogul Byron Allen dropped $27 million in July for this David Johnston masterpiece on Aspen's prestigious Willoughby Way. The sale contributed to Aspen's record year for residential sales. (Douglas Elliman photo)

Walls of glass and a second floor terrace at 720 Willoughby Way in Aspen helped the owner get a sales price of $27 million. (Douglas Elliman photo)

High ceilings at the Aspen mansion at 720 Willoughby Way provide views from Independence Pass to Pyramid Peak. (Douglas Elliman photo)

Media Mogul Byron Allen added this mountainside mansion in Aspen to his stable of remarkable residences. (Douglas Elliman photo)

The penthouse apartment atop the Crandall Building condominium in downtown Aspen set the record at more than $11 million for most expensive condo sale in Aspen. (Douglas Elliman photo)

The Crandall Building penthouse, noted as the most expensive apartment sale of 2020 in Aspen, features a rooftop pool amid the 2,000 sq.ft. outdoor living space. (Douglas Elliman photo)

The penthouse in Aspen's historic Crandall Building drew a record sales price for condos in the area, even during the pandemic. (Douglas Elliman photo)

When this penthouse in Aspen's historic Crandall Building sold in March, it ranked as the highest condo sales price in Aspen in 2020

A bedroom in the $11 million penthouse in Aspen's historic Crandall Building. (Douglas Elliman photo)

It’s almost impossible to fathom — Aspen area residential real estate sales in 2020 skyrocketed to a mind-boggling $3.1 billion with the largest single sale weighing in at $31.85 million for a new build on posh Red Mountain. With numerous Texans claiming the Rocky Mountain nirvana as their personal playground, the sales record certainly peaks our interest.

“This summer we saw more and more people flocking towards smaller communities. Buyers really ran with the newly available ‘remote’ lifestyle,” Douglas Elliman Aspen agent Brittanie Rockhill tells PaperCity. “What started as working and learning remotely, quickly evolved into living more remotely.

“With no tethers to pull buyers back to cities after a fun summer in Aspen, people put properties under contract and closed in November.”

During that month, there were 90 residential sales, 83 of those in the multi-millions in Aspen’s Pitkin County, double the number of sales that typically occur in that month. One Aspen real estate agent has tagged the phenomenon as “the great urban exodus.” Among area real estate cognoscenti the COVID-19 pandemic is widely credited with the remarkable sales volume.

Byron Allen home in Aspen — Media Mogul Byron Allen dropped $27 million in July for this David Johnston masterpiece on Aspen’s prestigious Willoughby Way. The sale contributed to Aspen’s record year for residential sales. (Douglas Elliman photo)

The 2020 sales crushed previous sales records.

“To put the year-to-date sales in perspective, in 2017, 2018 and 2019 approximately $1.9 billion sold in each entire year,” Amy Doherty of Douglas Elliman noted in her November newsletter. “The all-time record year for sales was 2006 when $2.6 billion sold. It is an understatement to say 2020 is a year for the record books (in so many ways).”

While Coldwell Banker Mason Morse had the seller and buyer for that mega home purchase, Elliman’s Joshua Saslove and Riley Warwick marked 2020 by garnering the highest sales price for a condominium in the area. The 2,821 square foot penthouse in the historic Crandall Building sold for more than $11 million.

Another noteworthy transaction in 2020 was the purchase be media mogul Byron Allen of a 9,000 square foot contemporary mansion for $27 million. This too is located on Red Mountain, which is often referred to as Billionaire Mountain. Douglas Elliman agents Raifie Bass, Wendy Wogan and Darin Tansey held that listing.