2012 Wyoming Housing Market

Rich coal laced energy fields combined with growth in manufacturing are pushing Wyoming housing markets higher, despite economic troubles elsewhere. Home sales are rising in most of the state along with housing prices, which are being aided by record low mortgage rates.

Home prices in the state’s largest city of Cheyenne are seeing healthy gains and few foreclosures with one of the lowest unemployment rates in the country. Existing home sales and the sale of new homes are projected to increase in 2012, with average prices forecast to rise 3.2% during the year.

In the resort community of Jackson Hole, the high-end market, including estate properties above $2-million are starting to sell with more steadiness, and should experience an improving year in 2012. High net worth individuals who make their second homes in Jackson Hole are buying up more properties to help the market recover from its downturn.

The resort community should experience an awesome snow season in 2012, with Jackson Hole forecast to sustain average housing appreciation of 2.3% for the year.

In Gillette, the local economy has weathered the Great Recession much better than in many other areas of the nation, but experienced a delayed slowdown in the local economy with many local businesses closing.

Gillette didn’t see a slowdown until mid-2010 but an onslaught of troubled home owners suffered through the financial crisis losing their homes to foreclosures.

Additional foreclosures and bank assisted short sales are projected to develop in the coming year as the region suffers through the fallout of the housing crisis.

However, neither Gillette nor other areas of Wyoming are expected to suffer the pain experienced in the hardest hit regions of the U.S.

The energy business is helping the region to grow with more jobs, despite a slower pace of development. Lower home prices and record low mortgage rates are driving more people to make home purchases and that is expected to continue throughout most of 2012. Gillette housing prices are forecast to appreciate an average of 2.7% for the year.

In Casper the inventory of homes is tightening as home buyers take advantage of record low mortgage rates and lower home prices. The second largest city in the state of Wyoming hasn’t seen the bust that other hard hit regions of the country experienced but existing home sales slowed for a time before picking up.

The market has experienced growth from energy exploration and workers moving to the region to labor in the coal fields, as locals grow with concerns over a bust like the one they had in the 1970s. All real estate markets are different and Casper stands as a market that has encountered its own issues in years past to recover strongly. Casper housing prices are forecast to appreciate an average of 3.5% by years end.