Following the very successful auction of 8 high end condos in Empire Pass it seems auction fever has struck in Park City. Two new projects have just announced their intent to auction their remaining units.
The Westgate at the Canyons Resort has been a mix of fractional and whole ownership units but has been moving more towards the whole ownership side instead of fractional. I toured this project last November and told the sales team that I felt their prices were unrealistically high. After going through the Christmas season and the first six weeks of 2010 with no sales, it appears that they have seen the light. However, instead of just lowering their prices to a realistic level, they have chosen to jump on the auction bandwagon and auction off their remaining units with opening bid prices where I feel their sales prices should be. They are obviously hoping for an auction frenzy to bid the prices up. This is the same philosophy that Silver Strike at Empire Pass had but the reality was the prices did not get bid up much above the minimum bid. As Silver Strike in Empire was, in my opinion, a far more desirable location, I will be very interested to see, first, how many units in Westgate sell during the auction and second, if the prices are bid up at all.
The second project that is going to auction is a development called The Lookout at Deer Valley. This is a 30 unit development-townhouse style in the Silver Lake Village at Deer Valley. While the Lookout does not have ski-in/ski-out access, it does feature stunning views towards Flagstaff Mountain, Empire Mountain, and Jupiter Peak at Park City. When the project was first released four years ago, sales were brisk. Since the stalling of the economy and the real estate market in park city, sales in The Lookout have abruptly stopped. As a result the developer has decided to send the final 7 units to auction at the end of March. As with Silver Strike and the Westgate, the initial bid prices will be in the neighborhood of 50% below list price. Unlike Silver Strike where the developer auctioned off 8 of the remaining 19 units and selected the most desirable units for auction, the 7 remaining units at Lookout may not be the most desirable units in the project. Once again it will be very interesting to see if all 7 units sell and for what price.
An interesting note is that after the initial 8 units were sold at Silver Strike at auction the developer lowered the remaining 11 units to near the auction prices and since then has sold 6 of the remaining 11. What this demonstrates is that buyers are actively looking and ready to purchase but will only do so if they feel they are getting a bargain. The other thing that the auctions have brought about is a reduction in prices in similar competing developments. In Empire Pass the newly completed Flagstaff building has been accepting offers at least 30% below list price and I have seen dramatic price decreases in re-sale units in other buildings such as Arrowleaf. I expect that the auction of Westgate at the Canyons will have a similar result in lowering of prices in competing developments. What this all means to you, the buyer, is that if you are in the market to pick up a ski vacation home, prices are down and developers are negotiating.
As a side note, while we have not had many large snow storms this year it has been snowing regularly since the middle of January and the conditions are excellent.
