Western Mountain Resort Alliance

In 1996 I founded an organization called the Rocky Mountain Resort Alliance which was composed of boards of REALTORS of ski resort towns throughout the Rocky Mountain States. Since the founding, the group has grown to include resorts in Lake Tahoe California and Whistler British Columbia. To better reflect the expansion, we have renamed ourselves the Western Mountain Resort Alliance. Our members are in the resorts of Whistler, British Columbia, Park City UT, Steamboat, Vail and Crested Butte in Colorado, Sun Valley Idaho, Big Sky Montana, Lake Tahoe California and Jackson Hole Wyoming. One of the purposes of WMRA is to share information on Real Estate sales and market health. We have been collecting statistics on Real Estate sales from 1996 to present and publish them quarterly. Many of the trends that I have been reporting on these past several months are true for the other resorts as well.

 

For awhile now, I have been saying that number of listings are down and number of sales are up. Frequently I hear that Park City must be an anomaly as this could certainly not be indicative of the rest of the country. In looking at the 3rd quarter statistics I see that this trend is true throughout the Western resort markets. Number of listings for 2011 vs 2010 are down anywhere from 2-16%. The only exceptions are Lake Tahoe which is up 6% and Jackson which is even with last year. At the same time, all of the resorts except for Crested Butte, are showing an increase in number of sales from 1% (Vail) to 40% (Big Sky). Most resorts are up 20-30% from 2010. At the same time, the average sales price for every resort except for Big Sky and Crested Butte, has dropped from 2010. The average sold price has declined from 10-20% for the remaining resorts.

 

What this is telling me is that while inventory is at a historic low, prices are also down and buyers are taking advantage of this rare event. Is this the "perfect storm" for investors to land the choice real estate at bargain prices? Which ever resort you frequent, it certainly appears that now is not the time to dawdle.

 

For more specific information on any of these resorts, please give me a call or drop me an email.

 

Dennis Hanlon

Summit Sothebys International Realty.