Jackson Hole formerly known as Jackson’s Hole is a valley between two mountain ranges in the US state of Wyoming. With its airport right in the middle of a national park, this little town welcomes its visitors in style. There is a myriad of things to love about this town especially because it offers a wide range of activities to engage in throughout the year.
From being a snowy paradise for sleigh rides and power-skiing in winter to opening up and enjoying the summer theatres and grand music festivals in the summer Jackson Hole has diversified itself into a four-season destination.
Spring in Jackson Hole is to visit the Yellowstone National Park, which has bragging rights as the world’s first national park, it is also the time when the town starts to get back to its commercial life. And fall is when the hunting season gets underway, not to mention those incredible fiery aspens and the rest of the fall foliage displays.
The Jackson Hole real estate market is very strong with prices increasing by 43% year on year. It hasn’t however, deterred property buyers from investing in the area as total sales volume increased 36% with condominiums seeing the highest increase in sales volumes with the average median listing price at $1.3 million. Additionally, the real estate inventory in Jackson Hole is at its lowest level since 1990. So, don’t miss your chance!
The price of real estate in Jackson Hole is only set to grow, this is mainly due to low inventory and careful land use and planning on the side of Teton County. Conscious updates on their Comprehensive Plan with limits to growth and sprawl, keep land inventory low and in high demand allowing land value to keep growing, so if you tried your hand at the short-term rental space and feel like it didn’t work for you, you’ll still have a good property that continues to increase in value and demand, which you can sell for much more than the initial investment made.
Jackson Hole has more protected land than most other Rocky Mountain communities. The proximity of Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks promotes the protection of open spaces, view and migratory corridors, and privacy. Additionally, the local community is thriving, highly educated, and philanthropically minded and is also considered a safe haven for celebrities who simply want a little peace and quiet away from the demands of their status and lifestyle. Imagine what the idea of holidaying with celebrities can do for your nightly prices?
Jackson Hole is popular for its winter season complete with cozy lodges, awe-inspiring wildlife, and some of the world’s best skiing and winter sports. Snowboarding, ice skating, and sleigh riding in the clear, crisp air of Grand Tetons making it a magical mountain ski town.
However, according to National Geographic, last summer started with 40,000 people entering Jackson Hole every day overtaking the previous year, with the Grand Teton and Yellowstone national parks seeing hundreds of thousands of tourists a month. This means that you will continue to have peak seasons at every holiday season due to the many activities available for local and foreign visitors to Jackson Hole.
According to sources, Jackson Hole attracts over 2.6 visitors per year making it a making it an ideal location for your next Airbnb. From listings starting at a few hundred dollars to ten thousand dollars, the potential for hosts is endless.
This growth however has come at a cost for locals in the area as more and more homeowners opt for short-term rentals as opposed to long-term making it expensive for workers and other locals to find and afford housing rents in the area. Of course, local authorities see the benefit of short-term listings, however, it is important to create a balance.
Below is a snapshot of the existing vacation rental market in Jackson Hole as per AIRDNA.
Two types of properties dominate the market with 90% of them being entire homes while 10% of the properties are private rooms.
As far as rental sizes go 65% of the properties in the market are 2-bedroom (31%) and 3-bedroom (34%) properties. 4-bedroom properties take up 14% of the listings and a further 5% of listings have more than 5 rooms, while studio apartments only make 2%.
Making the popular choice of Airbnb listings full homes with 2 or 3 bedrooms which makes sense since Jackson Hole is more popular for traveling in groups as opposed to solo traveling.
Since Jackson Hole is part of the state of Wyoming all Airbnb laws and taxes that apply to the state of Wyoming apply to Jackson Hole as well. The tax breakdown is as listed below:
This is 4% of the listing price including any cleaning and guest fees, for reservations shorter than 30 days.
This is 5% of the price listed including any cleaning and guest fees, for reservations shorter than 30 days.
The local sales tax rates vary by county. The rate is typically 1-2% of the listing price including cleaning and guest fees, for reservations shorter than 30 days.
The local lodging tax rates vary by city and county. The rate is typically up to 4% of the listing price including any cleaning and guest fees, for reservations shorter than 30 days.
For more details on any of the types of taxes mentioned above, visit the Wyoming Department of Revenue website.
The real estate market has been interesting if anything showing only an exponential path when it comes to property prices. When looking at the type of visitors to Jackson Hole it seems to be families and friends traveling in small groups resulting in a popular trend of entire homes with two or three bedrooms being mostly listed and occupied in the area. With the market value rising and Jackson Hole looking more popular by the day locals and tourists alike add to it the natural beauty of the winters and the parks in the summers you have yourself a property than you can possibly have booked throughout the year.
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