Star Valley Real Estate Market Report | Q1 2026

First Quarter

Star Valley, Wyoming & Idaho — Q1 2026

Following a tepid 2025, the Star Valley real estate market came out of the gate strong in Q1 2026. The 83 transactions across Lincoln County represented a 43 percent increase in sales compared to the first three months of last year. The corresponding dollar volume for the first three months of this year also jumped nearly 75 percent to $42.3M.

Home sales – particularly in Alpine – led the way. Transactions increased 61.5 percent valley wide in Q1 2026 with 42 closings; the 20 sales in Alpine and Etna reflected a 233 percent spike over last year.

Northern Lincoln County was also the hot bed of activity for the beginning of 2026. Thirty-six closings generated nearly $20M in sales dollar volume (or nearly half of the Star Valley market total). Activity was up across all price

Sales Volume By Area

points compared to Q1 2025, with the eight sales in the $1M to $3M price bracket seeing the greatest year-overyear gain (60 percent).

Activity in the upper end of the market helped to drive the average transaction price to $514,605 (compared to $421,034 last year). The Q1 2026 median price, however, fell 6.25 percent to $375,000 (for nearly 7 acres of land in Afton).

The momentum heading into the busy summer season seems poised to continue. Inventory across Lincoln County fell nearly 10 percent compared to last spring. Heightened demand from buyers and a shrinking number of properties for sale place the region’s climate as a “Seller’s Market” at the end of Q1.

Sales Volume By Price Category

Land & Ranches

Lincoln County land sales were robust in the first three months of 2026. Transactions increased 36.7 percent year over year to 41 closings, while the complementing sales dollar volume ballooned more than 130 percent to nearly $16M.

The vacant land market in Afton was static compared to last year (8 sales). Thayne and Alpine doubled the activity with 17 and 16 closings respectively (and with increases over last year of 31 and 78 percent).

The median parcel price fell slightly from $165,000 in Q1 2025 (for a nearly 4-acre parcel in Afton) to $160,000 this year (for a little more than a third of an acre in Alpine Meadows). Four sales in excess of $1M helped to push the average land price up 69 percent to $388,476.

Properties listed for sale constricted from 166 in Q1 2025 to 137 this spring. Prices range for $65,000 for a .3-acre parcel in Star Valley Ranch to $5M for 160 irrigated acres in Auburn.

Single Family Homes

Sales Volume By Area

The Q1 2026 real estate story has been one of homes, particularly in Alpine and Etna.

Forty-two homes sold in Lincoln County during the first three months of this year, with 20 (or nearly half) occurring in northern Star Valley. The year-to-date sales volume of $26.4M also represented 62.3 percent of the valley’s overall sales volume total of $42.3M.

While the activity has been noteworthy, prices and/or values have remained relatively constant thus far in 2026. The surge in sales at the moment appears to be more of an expansion of buyer demand vs. appreciation of individual property values.

In Q1 2025, the median home sale posted at $580,000 (for a 4-bedroom, 2,000 sq.ft. home on .6 acres in Etna Village Estates). This year, that value grew 4.3 percent to $605,000 (for a 3-bedroom, 2000 sq.ft. home in Alpine). The average price fell 4.5 percent to $627,599 in Q1 2026.

Homes, however, are being absorbed by the market at a much faster pace than Q1 2025. Last year and on average, it took about 200 days for a home to sell in Star Valley. Through Q1 2026, however, that number has fallen 22 percent to 153 days.

Inventory has also remained static with the number of homes currently for sale hovering around 100 active listings.

Swan Valley, Idaho

Sales Volume By Area

Unlike its Wyoming neighbor to the south, Swan Valley had a modest start to 2026 by posting four transactions in the first three months of the new year.. Those four sales, however, were an improvement over Q1 2025 when only three transactions closed. The complementing Q1 2026 dollar volume of $5.1M was a more than 200 percent increase compared to the first three months of last year.

The Bonneville County market has a tough row to hoe for the rest of 2026 if it’s to eclipse its record-setting year in 2024 when a total of 34 transactions accounted for more than $30M in dollar volume.

This year’s healthy increase in sales volume was the result of the sale of a 6,300 sq.ft. equestrian estate on more than 46 acres. Originally listed for $9.99M, the property sold at auction for just under $4M after more than seven months on the market. Despite the noticeable gap between the original listing price and final gavel strike, the transaction represented the most expensive home sale in Swan Valley history.

The 25 properties currently listed for sale across the valley also represent a 56 percent increase in inventory compared to last year. Given the current pace of sales, Swan Valley was squarely in the “Buyer’s Market” category at the end of Q1 2026.

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Although the foregoing data has been compiled from sources deemed reliable, Jackson Hole Sotheby’s International Realty does not guarantee its authenticity. It is intended for informational purposes only, is subject to prior sale, error, revision, and cancellation without notice, and should be independently verified with the source of such information. Source data is provided by Teton Board of Realtors MLS for areas one through ten, and supplemented with proprietary sales data for $0 sales. ®,™ and SM are licensed trademarks to Sotheby’s International Realty Affiliates LLC. An Equal Opportunity Company. Equal Housing Opportunity. Jackson Hole Sotheby’s International Realty is Independently Owned and Operated.