According to an article in Barron's , the top spots on their list for second home purchases this year go to Austin, Texas, where a softening luxury housing market offers a buying opportunity; Lake Geneva, Wis., where a long-moribund market suddenly turned lively; and Park City, Utah, where a major investment by Vail Resorts is likely to take this ski and film retreat to new heights in the coming years.
One of the writers of the article spent time with local Broker Bill Ligety during his visit to Park City.
Vail Resorts, the ski-resort operator from Colorado, has moved into Utahs Park City, famed for its dry powder and 35-minute commute to Salt Lake Citys airport. In 2013, Vail Resorts signed a $25-million-a-year lease to operate the Canyons, one of three major local ski areas, before plunking down another $182 million to buy out much of neighboring Park City Mountain Resort. Park City is now the biggest ski resort in the U.S. with 7,300 acres of skiable terrain. It also offers value for your money. The median price in Park City is $1.46 million, comfortably below Aspens $3.86 million, Vails $2.12 million, and Sun Valleys $1.6 million.
Park City began as a raucous 19th century silver-mining town with lots of bars and a red-light district; it now hosts Robert Redfords Sundance Film Festival and, soon, the newly reopened and relocated Kimball Art Center. Many of its ski slopes are included in Vail Resorts Epic Pass program, a season ski ticket that covers all of Vails 12 resorts worldwide. Each spring, skiers can buy online deeply discounted passes, whose price, like an Uber surge, rises as the new season approaches. Last year, prices started at just $769, barely a third of what it costs for a single-season pass to a top area like Aspen.
Bill Ligety, a real estate agent at Summit Sothebys and the father of Olympic skier Ted Ligety, says that older homes in good mountain locationsbut lacking ski in, ski out accessare usually priced at around $500 per square foot (including land) and often renovated after a sale. At the other end, new mountain homes with good ski access can run $1,200 to $1,500 a square foot.
For the complete article, select this link: Barron's Article