Despite the global media attention generated by hosting the 2010 Winter Olympics one year ago, foreign ownership of Whistler real estate — namely condos and apartments — has diminished, according to a recent report.
The report, released this month by Landcor Data Corporation, is the summary of all Whistler property titles available from the B.C. Assessment Authority database as of Jan 24, 2011.
“The closest thing we compare Whistler to is Expo,” said Rudy Nielsen, Landcor president. “We saw Expo at $12 billion (in real estate sales) and in over three years it went to $28 billion.
“This is a different situation with a worldwide recession — it’s a tough market until next year, but it’s going to turn around; we’re going to see people coming back to Whistler.”
In 2005, foreign owners held 22.54 per cent of Whistler’s $7.15 billion residential value. Today, instead of a widely anticipated increase, that figure has eased to 21.02 percent.
Making up the bulk of foreign owners are Americans, who hold 9.11 per cent of the entire Whistler residential pool — down from 10.95 per cent in 2005 — while the dollar value of their holdings has also dropped from about $986 million to about $834 million.
“What happened with the mortgage crisis in the United States is there’s no equity left in some people’s houses,” said Nielsen, “and you know, a thirty percent drop — a lot of people had to sell their place in Whistler and get out.”
Pat Kelly, owner and president of Whistler Real Estate, said in addition to the real estate crisis, which has created a lack of confidence in the real estate market, the situation with the Canadian dollar having risen dramatically has also contributed to the slowdown of foreign investment.
“The Canadian dollar has strengthened significantly, which has made it attractive for some of our foreign owners who bought a few years ago to sell,” he said. “Quite frankly, they’ve made money on the exchange rate.”
“Whistler is still predominately a regional experience from a real estate perspective,” added Kelly. “Most of the buyers are from Vancouver or the Lower Mainland, or B.C.”
One year after the Olympics, Canadians hold 80.24 per cent of the now $7.878 billion in total assessed value in Whistler. Despite the slippage of sales to foreign owners, the sales of high-end single family detached homes have remained stable.
Heather Clifford, managing broker for Remax Whistler Sea to Sky, said she has seen an upward trend in the number of Lower Mainland purchasers who are taking equity out of their Vancouver properties to buy a dream home in Whistler.
“We seemed out of reach price-wise to most of the Lower Mainland for years and years,” she said, “and it took the last seven years of real estate values in the Lower Mainland to double to meet what we are now, and now they can look at Whistler.”
Clifford has also started to see an increase in purchasers from Hong Kong, which she attributes to the Approved Destination Status granted by China to Canada in late 2009, making group travel easier.
“There are statistics that tell you that to buy a property in Whistler, you need three to five visits here before you can commit to buying ahead,” she said. “But I can tell you when I meet new people when I’m in Whistler, I always say ‘And how did you find out about Whistler?’ and in the last year, it’s all been about the Olympics.”
Agreeing with Nielsen’s positive outlook for the future, Kelly said he expects that from now on Whistler will continue to reap the benefits of the investment that was made because of the Olympics, and the awareness that was created as a result.
“There’s a saying ‘it’s slow the year before, it’s slow the year of, and it’s slow the year after,’” he said. “Now we’re nine months after the Olympics and we are starting to see more activity.”
To view the Landcor report online, go to https://www.landcor.com/market/reports/whistlerforeignowners_201102.pdf.
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