BC, prices

Whistler Hotel Condo Prices Collapse

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96 Comments

The Pique has an article about some remarkable goings-ons just a little ways north.  Some hotel condo units in Whistler are now selling for half their peak price.

Those who own a condo unit in a Whistler hotel are sitting on great potential, but at the moment the units are not showing great value.

Real estate consultant Denise Brown with Re/Max Sea to Sky Real Estate reported that a unit originally sold in the Four Seasons Whistler for about $1.1 million was recently resold for only $520,000.

The so-called Phase 2 units in Whistler have fallen victim to the globally depressed financial situation, said Brown.

“We’ve seen the prices come down significantly,” she said.

According to Brown, this segment of the real estate business is at the bottom of the cycle so prices are good right now. She said the people who are happiest in the condo hotel market are those who are in for the long-term and have made a lifestyle choice in purchasing a condo unit in a hotel.

Lifestyle.  Got it?  Lifestyle, Lifestyle, Lifestyle.  Just repeat the mantra and you’ll be fine.

Then there’s this gem:

Kelly said this segment of the real estate industry has improved in the last six months but people aren’t willing to spend as much in Whistler as they were a decade ago.

“It’s not anything wrong with Whistler or that Whistler is worth less,” said Kelly. “It is just that people are prepared to spend less.”

It’s not that Whistler is worth less than it has ever been worth, it’s that some people paid more than it was worth.

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b5baxter

@Anonymouse: Please re-read my original post which you thought was “silly.” I never made any claims about whether there were more good times than bad times. I never made any claims about whether investing in real estate was a good investment more often than a bad investment. The scenario I described was simply to point out it is wrong to assume that there is NEVER a bad time to buy real estate. One should look at the fundamentals. I have owned real estate in the past because based on the fundamentals I thought it was a good time to buy. I don’t currently own real estate because I think the fundamentals show it is not a good time to buy. Some of the fundamentals now appear similar to what they were in 1981. And if someone purchases real estate now… Read more »

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[…] 29th 2012) -The boomer trigger -New budget slashes $5.2 billion -Ottawa to toughen CMHC oversight -This rant brought to you by Gordholio -TD: don’t worry about the banks -Banks tighten condo lending on bubble fears -The 3-inch […]

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Chabar

Lowlifes and their fucked business style and culture. Just look their faces, I wouldn’t trust them anything but somehow Vancouver and BC likes that garbage more than anything.

http://mobile.bloomberg.com/news/2012-03-29/sun-hung-kai-says-co-chairmen-arrested-for-corruption-probe.html

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Bob

hey everybody who’s ready to laugh?

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Dave

Averages are a little down this month incase you didn’t already know. Going to make it up in April though.

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Dave

Oh… and welcome to the Spring market.

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Hibernating Renter

Flaherty announces $24B deficit this year, $21B deficit next year, totally by coincidence a federal election, then a surplus the following year. It’s a miracle!

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Anonymous

@Anonymous: …Whistler is not down 50%. Are you seriously asking me to prove that statement?…

Whistler’s not down 50%! It’s more a case of people only wanting to spend half as much. 🙂 🙂 🙂

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Dave

Good to see some of you catching on that Garth Turner is just a fear mongering dummy.

Things still flat out there?

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Bob

Date Listing Price(+-) Sold Inv Inv(+-) S/L(%) Mar 01 313 94 123 14,912 5 39.3 Mar 02 251 97 163 14,919 7 64.9 Mar 05 338 134 118 15,069 150 34.9 Mar 06 298 114 163 15,161 92 54.7 Mar-07 260 114 71 15,305 144 27.3 Mar-08 237 106 152 15,345 40 64.1 Mar-09 229 76 69 15,454 109 30.1 Mar-12 306 119 120 15,588 134 39.2 Mar-13 290 122 146 15,640 52 50.3 Mar-14 238 97 133 15,701 61 55.9 Mar-15 208 83 180 15,693 -8 86.5 Mar-16 224 91 97 15,734 41 43.3 Mar-19 319 138 193 15,778 44 60.5 Mar-20 267 118 158 15,837 59 59.2 Mar-21 238 104 153 15,864 27 64.3 Mar-22 219 107 136 15,904 40 62.1 Mar-23 204 113 123 15,940 36 60.3 Mar-26 303 161 127 16,038 98 41.9 Mar-27 268 139… Read more »

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Anonymous

@patriotz:

Whistler is not down 50%. Are you seriously asking me to prove that statement?

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good-format

Copied from PaulB’s number http://www.laurenandpaul.ca Date Listing Price(+-) Sold Inv Inv(+-) S/L(%) Mar 01 313 94 123 14,912 5 39.3 Mar 02 251 97 163 14,919 7 64.9 Mar 05 338 134 118 15,069 150 34.9 Mar 06 298 114 163 15,161 92 54.7 Mar-07 260 114 71 15,305 144 27.3 Mar-08 237 106 152 15,345 40 64.1 Mar-09 229 76 69 15,454 109 30.1 Mar-12 306 119 120 15,588 134 39.2 Mar-13 290 122 146 15,640 52 50.3 Mar-14 238 97 133 15,701 61 55.9 Mar-15 208 83 180 15,693 -8 86.5 Mar-16 224 91 97 15,734 41 43.3 Mar-19 319 138 193 15,778 44 60.5 Mar-20 267 118 158 15,837 59 59.2 Mar-21 238 104 153 15,864 27 64.3 Mar-22 219 107 136 15,904 40 62.1 Mar-23 204 113 123 15,940 36 60.3 Mar-26 303 161 127 16,038… Read more »

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Conrad

Please vote down this post if you throw away money on rent, and do not participate in the government wealth distribution channel that is real estate.

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Patiently Waiting

@N: Inflating housing is also leading to the building of more housing (low quality as it may be).

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N

@Anonymous:

“Too funny. By inflating housing the government is implementing a stimulus program 100% financed by those buying houses at inflated prices. ”

That’s exactly right. And the hilarious thing is that people don’t mind. It’s stimulative inflation that people feel good about. People are weird.

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Bull-Market

The Met in Metrotown expected to sell out.
Keep crying.

Telus garden already sold out many of their units to telus employees before offering them to the public.

You bears never learn. How many here posted since 2007 and waited for a crash that has never happened? Worse yet, how many still haven’t bought since posting here and see that sky-rocketing housing prices slam you in the face? Raise your hands.

Vote down this post to show that you’ve been here waiting to buy a home and missed the train.

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Boombust

“The market will correct on its own regardless of what the government does…”

So true. And, whether or not we have 40 year OR 25 year amortizations is, ultimately, irrelevant.

After all, the US home buyer can get a 30 year mortgage AND write off the interest. Throw in in historically LOW rates and you get…well, never mind.

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patriotz

@Anonymouse:
” I just think that when people overstate their argument in such a demonstrably false way then they lose all credibility”

As though all the bears were calling for a 70% nominal decline? You’re saying “demonstrably false” without bothering to do any demonstrating.

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Anonymouse

@jesse:

“but I don’t think it’s 50%”

Nowhere near. Some will say that makes me a bull. I’m not. I just think that when people overstate their argument in such a demonstrably false way then they lose all credibility. Whistler isn’t 50% off. Richmond isn’t 40% off. If the evidence for a bubble is so strong then I’ve no idea why they feel the need to exaggerate.

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Not much of a name...

@Laibach: Sad part is, for some people it’s always a good time to buy.

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Laibach

@jesse:

A week ago at the Whistler, I was in the hotel’s hot-tub chatting and drinking beer with the guy that owns the 1B apartment in that same hotel where I stayed for a week. I noticed that there are plenty apartments for sale (650sf – 310K/320K) in the hotel and he said “Right, it is good time to buy now (???). Apartments are priced at exactly the same price what I paid in 1999.”

I don’t know what happened in the meantime between 1999 and 2012 with those apartments prices in order to drive some conclusions?

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Anonymous

@Conrad: “This is how the government gives back after it takes so much in income tax.”

Too funny. By inflating housing the government is implementing a stimulus program 100% financed by those buying houses at inflated prices. The government should be thanking fools like you for financing the stimulus. It is an easy way to infect money into the economy. Of course like all stimulus programs the money has to be paid back and there is little value left at the end. Guess who gets to pay it back? You Conrad.

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Anonymous

Re Budget

F knows what everyone around here knows. The market will correct on its own regardless of what the government does. If the government somehow had control over housing bubbles we would not see all of them collapsing around the world.

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Conrad

@GR: Good post GR. your right on about the perception bias on this blog.

Another big bull day. Get with the program guys, this country is setup for home ownership and will continue to be for the foreseeable future. This is how the government gives back after it takes so much in income tax.

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