Vail Resorts buys Mad River Mountain

Vail Resorts of Colorado has bought Mad River Mountain ski resort near Bellefontaine along with 16 other ski slopes.

Vail bought all 17 properties of Peak Resorts Inc. for $264 million. Also included in the deal are Alpine Valley, Boston Mills and Brandywine in Ohio.

The resorts will become part of Vail’s properties which include Vail, Breckenridge, Keystone and Crested Butte in Colorado, Park City in Utah and Stowe in Vermont.

In addition to the four Ohio properties, Vail acquired: Mount Snow in Vermont; Hunter Mountain in New York; Attitash Mountain Resort, Wildcat Mountain and Crotched Mountain in New Hampshire; Liberty Mountain Resort, Roundtop Mountain Resort, Whitetail Resort, Jack Frost and Big Boulder in Pennsylvania; Hidden Valley and Snow Creek in Missouri; and Paoli Peaks in Indiana.

Vail said it plans to invest

take a property to sell,” said Columbus Realtors President John Myers.

Home sales slipped in all major Ohio markets in June, leading to a 5.6% statewide decline, according to Ohio Realtors. Prices, however, climbed 7.2% over last year throughout the state.

Nationally, home sales declined 1.7% from May to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.27 million, according to the National Association of Realtors.

U.S. home sale prices reached a record median high of $285,700, up 4.3% from a year earlier.

Lawrence Yun, chief economist with the National Association of Realtors, said the sales decline is driven by a shortage of homes on the market.

“Imbalance persists for mid- to lower-priced homes with solid demand and insufficient supply, which is consequently Matthew Speakman, Zillow economist

“Sales have struggled to achieve meaningful, consistent growth this year, despite friendly market conditions thanks to still-low mortgage rates and a strong labor market.”

pushing up home prices,” he said in a news release.

Zillow Economist Matthew Speakman also blamed a lack of inventory on lackluster sales.

“Sales have struggled to achieve meaningful, consistent growth this year, despite friendly market conditions thanks to stilllow mortgage rates and a strong labor market,” Speakman said in a news release. “Meager inventory levels, especially in the entry-level segment, and still-rising prices continue to limit the selection of homes available to more budget-conscious buyers.”