Steamboat Springs — Relatively low inventory hasn’t slowed a busy summer for real estate in Routt County, where July numbers for transactions and gross volume were among the highest in five years.

While official numbers from the Land Title Guarantee Company aren’t yet out, both the number of transactions and volume appear to have remained high through August and early September.

For July, 168 transactions translated to $80.6 million in gross volume changing hands — more transactions than any individual month since September 2010 and among the two highest-grossing months since December 2009.

Anchoring the high numbers in July were roughly $29 million in volume representing 55 sales in the Steamboat mountain area, $10.3 million representing 12 sales downtown and $8.7 million representing 11 transactions in West Steamboat.

In Hayden, 17 transactions representing $9.1 million in sales also accounted for more than 11 percent of the total Routt County market.

“July was an amazing month for real estate in Routt County,” said Melissa Gibson, of the Land Title Guarantee Company, which prepares the monthly reports.

Taking a broader look at the summer, broker Doug Labor compared July 1 to Sept. 8 numbers for 2014 and 2015, revealing that 221 transactions during the period in 2014 rose to 234 transactions this year.

More sales translated to more volume, with $112 million during the July 1 to Sept. 8 period last year, versus $120 million this year.

“I think it’s been very active, especially in light of the number of listings being down from last year,” said Labor, an associate broker and general manager of Steamboat Sotheby’s International Realty’s downtown office.

Among the most pricey transactions this summer were three Catamount homes and a vacant Catamount lot, an encouraging sign for the high-end market.

“It’s nice to see it coming back, for sure,” Labor said. “The part of our market that hasn’t been that active has been more expensive properties, above three or three-and-a-half million.”

Steamboat Sotheby’s International Realty broker Darlinda Baldinger closed on a listing for a $5.575 million Catamount home in early September and represented buyers during the sale of a $4.6 million Catamount home in late August, two of the top sales of the summer.

“Catamount is H-O-T,” Baldinger said.

Labor said that, while the market has been active, he was surprised to see prices didn’t rise to the level he expected considering the recovering economy and low local inventory, particularly for entry-level properties.

“Although the market’s been very active, prices haven’t seemed to jump as much as what would’ve been expected — which is good for buyers.”

To reach Teresa Ristow, call 970-871-4206, email tristow@SteamboatToday.com or follow her on Twitter @TeresaRistow