Ski Season

For the fifth weekend in a row it was a stormy and snowy Saturday. Park City and Deer Valley received another 4 inches of snow, with Alta and Snowbird receiving about 18 inches. Needless to say, the new snow has increased the excitement around town and we are all hoping that this is a sign of a cold and snowy winter.

In real estate, we are experiencing a spike in activity which I expect is being brought on by the early snowfall. It appears that many buyers are taking advantage of the low interest rates and stable prices to pick up a rental ski condo for this season. With rental companies reporting very strong pre-season bookings, buyers have seen that this is a great time to purchase and receive the benefits of a strong rental season. While it’s getting late in the year, a few people are still picking up older condos in original condition to remodel for this year. While becoming fewer and fewer, the older condos around the Park City resort continue to be excellent buys as the remodeled prices continue to attract higher and higher resale values.

It is looking like it is going to be a fabulous ski season, so plan your vacation to Park City, Deer Valley now, before everything is booked!

More Snow

We seem to be settling into a wonderful pattern of storms every few days. Saturday was cold and several inches of snow fell. The mountains are very white with crystal blue sky and the fall colors are at their peak. What a wonderful time of the year to be in the mountains!

In speaking with my friends in the other Rocky Mountain resorts, it appears that resort real estate is definitely not following the national trend. The resorts of Whistler, Jackson Hole, Steamboat Springs, Vail and Aspen are all showing an increase in number of sales, dollar volume, and sold price for this year. Resorts such as Park City, Telluride, and Sun Valley are showing sales volume either even with or very slightly down from last year, but dollar volume is up and sold prices are up. This verifies what we’ve known for quite some time, that the resort real estate market is very different from typical residential real estate. As our mountain towns have a very limited supply of land available for development, the amount of property we have for sale is limited. By supply and demand, if the demand continues to be strong (which it is), and our supply is limited (which it is), then the markets hold strong or continue to increase. While we know that no real estate market is immune to up and down trends, the resort markets seem to be steadier.

Right now we are seeing a flurry of activity as buyers are looking to purchase a rental property for the ski season. All of the property management companies tell me that their bookings are significantly up for this year, and buyers are looking to cash in. This is the perfect time to come out and look for property, before the busy ski season, when you can actually get into all of the units that are for sale, have choices of property to purchase, and find sellers who are more negotiable now than during the height of the income-producing season.

Fall Colors

What a weekend! Snow all day Saturday gave way to crystal blue skies on Sunday. The combination of dark blue sky, white mountaintops, the gold aspens and red maples made Sunday one of the prettiest days of the year. It seemed that the whole town was out hiking or biking on the trails. We have been receiving regular snowstorms this fall with more snow forecast for tonight and later this week. The high peaks are very white, and it looks like the snow is here for the year. This is creating a lot of excitement in town, and an added urgency for the ski resorts to finish up their projects. The new Lady Morgan Express Lift at Deer Valley is taking shape and looks like it will offer some excellent intermediate and advanced skiing. Everyone is talking about the new terrain and we are all eager to get up and explore it.

In real estate news, the new Empire Pass development at Deer Valley continues to be the shining star. The Grand Lodge at the base of the Northside Lift is completed and the wait was worthwhile as it is a beautiful building with the best ski access. There are a couple of resale opportunities in the Grand Lodge on the ski slope level with views up the mountain. New at the base of the Empire Lift, work is underway at a feverish pace for the new Montage Resort Spa. This is going to be a very high-end boutique hotel with over 30,000 square feet of spa area. While it is currently under construction, we do not anticipate that sales of the units to begin until the hotel is nearer to completion, in about two years.

In the Village at Empire, the Silver Strike building is nearing completion with about 12 units available. The new Flagstaff condominium building has just started construction with expected release of units in December. Construction has also begun on the new pool at the Talisker Tower Club.

Along with the spectacular colors and early season snows, there is a lot of excitement going on at the resorts and this is a wonderful time of year to come and see what’s going on!