VAIL, Colo. ” The Vail-area real estate market took its hardest tumble in years in January.

Sales figures from Land Title Guaranty Co. show just less than $40.5 million in real estate changed hands in January. That’s one-third of the $124 million in sales recorded in January 2008.

January’s sales total came in just 46 transactions, compared to 104 sales during the same month last year. There were 102 sales recorded in December.

Vail Village accounted for the most activity in January with nearly 25 percent of the total dollar volume ” $9,537,500 in sales.

Most residential sales ” 48 percent ” were in the $500,000 to $1 million range. The next-most active part of the market was in sales of $500,000 or less, which accounted for 22 percent of all transactions.

Multi-family homes had an average price of slightly more than $1 million. East Vail had the highest area average sales price at $1.3 million in more than four sales, and Vail Village had an average price per square foot of $1,261.