In the case of ski resort properties, the rising tide of real estate is lifting boomers not to the slopes, but to scenic second homes overlooking snow-capped peaks.

According to the National Association of Realtors, second homes are rising in popularity, so much so, that for the first time, the organization added second home/vacation homes to its bi-annual homebuying/homeselling survey released just this month. Although only two percent of homes purchased in 1996 and 1997, the periods covered by the survey, were second homes or vacation properties, the rise is significant and should be much higher the next time the survey is conducted at the end of 1999.

Industry spokespersons believe the rise in vacation homes are due in part to several reasons, the Taxpayer Relief Act of 1997, rising incomes and the aging Baby Boomer population. The average age of the second home buyer is 51.

This is the target market of resort property purveyors in popular cold weather destinations such as Aspen, where brokers are seeing as much as a nine-fold increase in some home prices.

With ski-based tourism flat for over a decade, some ski resorts have turned to making their acreage attractive for year round use by offering such warm weather diversions as ballooning, mountain biking, golf, and tennis. Ski companies such as Intrawest Corp, owner of Copper Mountain and other resorts, are looking to construct housing developments and offer buildable lots to complement golf courses and hiking and biking park trails. The company sold a remarkable 108 homes in six hours for about $33 million, and plans to build as many as 1,100 more homes over the next ten years. Last year, Intrawest earned $121.3 million from its real estate operations apart from its resort holdings.

Aspen, which has virtually no undeveloped land left is opening some of its resort land holdings to homeowners. The Aspen Skiing Co. recently sold 31 single-family home sites priced between $1.1 million and $2.5 million. Plans are underway to include 32 new town homes at $2.5 million each and 73 condominiums at a minimum of $800,000 apiece.

Individuals are joining the gold rush to ski resort properties. Robert Ritchie, an Aspen real estate broker, is representing a 500-acre property which has recently been put on the market for $37.5 million. The owner paid $9 million for the property in 1990. Boasting a snowcat parking space at the Snowmass ski resort lift, the property is virgin land with no buildings on it, as yet.

Published: August 3, 1998

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