In 2000 I moved from Mont-Tremblant to Blue Mountain to work for Intrawest, the company that built the Village at Blue Mountain. Collingwood and Blue Mountain were sleepy rural towns, and the local real estate market was sleepy as well. Intrawest’s arrival on the scene created a lot of real estate buzz. Whistler-Blackcomb and Mont-Tremblant, Intrawest’s flagship resorts were shining examples of what could happen to Blue Mountain. The excitement in Ontario was palpable. Interest in Intrawest-built real estate at Blue was off the charts. For the next seven years building and real estate sales were at all-time highs as the appetite for resort real estate continued unabated.
Then in late 2008 and early 2009 the world melted down financially bringing with it resort real estate prices. Whether you owned in Whistler-Blackcomb, Mont-Tremblant, Florida or Arizona price corrections ranged anywhere from 10% to 50% or more. The three remaining buildings scheduled for construction in The Village at Blue Mountain were put on hold indefinitely. That was then, this is now.
After a relatively flat local market for the past six years since the meltdown of 2009, 2016 has seen a change from a buyer’s market trending to a seller’s market. Single family home and condo inventory in Blue Mountain and Collingwood is down pushing prices up. Inventory in The Village at Blue Mountain is at a five-year low with rental revenue at an all-time high. Prices for condos in The Village are strengthening albeit lagging a bit behind the general market. There is however, good reason for optimism. The “wait and see” attitude of just a short time ago is now being replaced with a “wait and miss out” experience. The Toronto phenomenon of multiple offers, once unheard of in Blue Mountain and Collingwood are becoming more and more common…….”The Heat is On”……