Culliton Creek-to-Cheakamus River Project

The planning for this stretch of the Sea to Sky Highway has been underway for the past several years. It is with great excitement that we are seeing massive improvements in what seems to be a short time. In 2002, a new bridge was built beside the Big Orange Bridge (known as Bob to local highway drivers) and provided a major boast to this stage of the road improvement. Highway crews have been blasting and clearing rock to widen this section. While we had to endure several road closures, including late night closures lasting up to three hours at a time, the immediate results have been worth the inconvenience. Construction has ceased for the ski season and will not resume again until March 22nd 2004.

Test Section for Sea to Sky Highway Project

On November 3rd 2003, work began on a 1- kilometer "Test Section" for the Sea to Sky Highway which is located halfway between Horseshoe Bay and Lions Bay. From Dec, 1st 2003 until March 18th 2004 expect 2-minute delays at random times.
The purpose of this work is to test geotechnical data and construction methods in a challenging highway segment before embarking on the larger highway construction sections. This is the beginning of increasing the Horseshoe Bay to Squamish portion of the highway to 3 and 4 lanes.

You can call the project information line for further information weekdays between 7AM and 4:30PM at or go online to:
http://www.th.gov.bc.ca/roadreports/roadreport.asp?filename=highway99.txt

By Mike Wintemute - General Manager
Windermere Sea to Sky Real estate Ltd

There has been some misconception regarding the real estate market in Whistler over the past year. While the volume of sales was lower in 2003 than in 2002, average prices remained the same in most areas. In some cases, prices increased slightly.

The underlying strength in resort real estate still exists and we should continue to experience a steady market over the next several years. The reasons for Whistler’s healthy real estate market come from several positive influences. Whistler is very close to maximizing the number of town homes and condominiums that can be built here. These properties are always in demand and consequently will enjoy ongoing success. Many current owners are reluctant to sell as they are happy with their Whistler properties and are hesitant to consider upgrading or moving into other markets.

Another reason for Whistler’s success in the real estate business comes from our consistent demographics that should not change for several years. Baby Boomers and Echo Boomers are looking for retirement and recreational properties and will continue to put demand on our properties. We are seeing younger retirees considering lifestyle changes to outdoor recreational markets and more individuals who can choose a new homebase due to business travel requirements and technological advances consider Whistler a great option.

We expect 2004 to be a stronger year with sales volume to increase slightly over 2003. A strengthening US economy and the underlying improvements that are part of the 2010 Winter Olympics will keep Whistler strong and in the forefront of the recreational buying public. At the same time prices should remain steady with a small increase in the five to ten percent range.

The following information is compiled from the Whistler Listing System, a shared listing and sales data base within Whistler and is deemed to be relatively accurate. Depending on when information is compiled, data may change some of the information slightly but should not make a material difference in the trends.

2003 CHALET SALES

The price of chalet properties peaked in the spring of 2002. The number of potential Buyers for chalets decreased while inventory for both new and re-sale properties were at an all time high. The number of sales dropped by 35% year over year but at the same time there was a 7% increase in the average sale price. We have recently experienced an increase in showings and sales in chalet properties and expect this trend to continue in 2004 as Buyers recognize that prices have been relatively unchanged for almost two years and Whistler is still one of the best investment markets in the world.

2003 CONDOMINIUM SALES

The price of re-sale condominiums peaked in the fall of 2002. For 2003 the number of sales dropped by 45% while at the same time there was a 36% increase in the average sale price. This increase can for the most part be attributed to the pre-sale of two new projects that played a major factor in the higher average sale price. For 2004 we anticipate that prices for the re-sale condominium market will increase slightly but the average sale price will end the year lower as there will not be the same impact from new product.

2003 VACANT LAND

The sale of vacant land was off by 80% in 2003, due to the drop in sales of already built new chalets and the slower re-sale chalet market. Fewer developers were willing to take the chance of building new homes on spec and the majority of new construction was for private building contracts. The average price of vacant dropped slightly, 5% year over year. With the current level of chalet inventory available and a reasonable selection of building lots on the market we do not anticipate strong sales or price increases in vacant land for 2004.

2003 SHARED OWNER

Shared Ownership is primarily quarter share properties with some time share in the mix. We continue to see a stronger acceptance of quarter share ownership offering an alternative for buyers who do not want to invest in whole ownership properties. In 2003 the number of sales dropped by 24% while at the same time the average price increased 11%. We expect both the number of sales and average price to increase in 2004.

By Mike Wintemute - General Manager
Windermere Sea to Sky Real Estate Ltd.

Pemberton continued to be strong throughout 2003 maintaining the momentum that was experienced in 2002. The town home market showed no sign of slowing down as a combination of owners cashing out of Whistler and first time buyers taking advantage of low interest rates continued to fuel this market. Single family homes sold steadily throughout the first half of 2003 but with prices moving upward the market for this product slowed during the second half of the year.

The Pemberton Valley Lodge, the first condo/hotel to be built and marketed in Pemberton did very well with 90% of the development sold during the first half of the year. As well Glacier Creek Developments, the builders of the successful "Peaks County Town Homes" launched a new phase of their project and while we don’t have sales figures as of yet, we know they had a sell out.

We expect 2004 to be another strong year in Pemberton with the only negatives being a lack of new condominiums and town homes and perhaps prices for single family homes to high for first time buyers and some cashing out of Whistler.

The following information is compiled from the Whistler Listing System, a shared listing and sales data base within Whistler and is deemed to be relatively accurate. Depending on when the information is compiled some later data may change some of the information slightly but should not be materially different.

2003 CHALET SALES

Pemberton chalet properties have done well over the past couple of years. The first half of 2003 experienced strong sales and increasing prices. Over all the price of a chalet increased 26% and this sharp increase early on slowed sales in the second half of the year reducing the number of sales 10% off of 2002. It may take a while for the market to catch up to the current asking prices and we anticipate sale prices to remain relatively flat for chalets in 2004.

2003 CONDOMINIUM SALES

This was another good year for town homes and condominiums in Pemberton. The year over year increase was 5% but this number is not accurate as the Pemberton Valley Lodge kept the average increase lower due to the price points for these units. Town homes on their own had an increase in excess of 30% while the total number of sales was up 76%. Again if you take the Lodge numbers out of the total sales the actual number of sales dropped by 34% we do not have sales figures for Glacier Creek Construction or the Pemberton Plateau town homes. With these sales factored in there was an increase in the number of sales for 2003. If all this seems confusing, it is! The Pemberton market is so small one project can skew the numbers in either direction.

2004 should be another good year for condominium sales in Pemberton with good product in short supply and value increasing 5% or more.

2003 VACANT LAND

Finding vacant land in Pemberton is not an easy task. We will be seeing more single family lots as this market up over the next few years. In 2003 there were a total of 15 land transactions for a drop of 35% in total number of sales. At the same time prices increased by 28% bring the average price of a single family lot to $330,000. There were three sales that are not included in the average price calculation as these were too high to give any kind of accurate reflection of the overall value of these lots. It is doubtful we will see any significant increase in the price of land in 2004 unless the value of single family homes increases or the lots that are available for sale are larger, estate type properties.

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