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Broker's Report
April 13- Mammoth real estate continues to surge forward and
upward. While the action slowed a bit as the war in Iraq started,
things heated back up in the past couple of weeks. One thing has
become clear as we wind down this particular winter season and see
the impacts of world events on the tourism industry. Tourism demand
has made a significant shift from "fly-to" resorts to "drive-to"
resorts. And Mammoth is a keenly positioned "drive-to" resort. The
other growing demand is for places people feel "safe", and more and
more we are hearing that the Eastern Sierra and Mammoth are
considered "safe" places. Oh what a difference 10 years makes!
Just this week Intrawest has started closing escrows on the
Village condominiums and things are looking very good around the
Village. I recently took a tour of the Village and quite frankly got
very excited. Having been a public planning official during the
lengthy public processes that occurred in 1990-91 and 1993-94 that
established the North Village Specific Plan, I had lost some of my
enthusiasm for the project in the past few years. But visiting the
completed condominium units, the retail spaces, the restaurant and
bar facilities under construction got me very enthused. Seeing the
nearly completed Village district and the execution of so many
planning fundamentals was very satisfying. It is certainly going to
be an exciting addition to the Mammoth experience. It will be fun to
watch it grow and evolve. There are new and resale units available in
all three buildings.
Meanwhile, the hottest segment of the real estate market has
been condominiums in the $250,000 to $350,000 price range. Quality
units, especially those in the proximity of the Village, don't last
long on the market. Very recent sales indicate that we have
experienced a 10 to 20 percent increase in values in those types of
properties since the last November/December time frame. Another
segment showing significant appreciation is Snowcreek Phase V. With
Phase VI on hold for now, demand has pushed prices up in the Phase V
units. According to one Snowcreek salesperson the market has found
"no point of resistance" in Phase V. The units are being listed at
significantly higher prices than those just months ago and within a
short marketing period the properties are sold.
Another hot condominium segment is the Chair 15 area. In the
past few years we have had two to three dozen listings at anytime in
the Juniper Springs Lodge and Sunstone projects, and as of this
writing we only have a couple. And those are likely to sell at
anytime. As of today the median price of condominiums in Mammoth is
over $400,000 and the average almost $500,000.
The residential home market is a bit different. Inventory has
risen slightly but at least a quarter of the inventory remains "under
construction" or "to be built" properties. The lowest priced home in
Mammoth is $429,000. The average and median prices are $1,435,000 and
$1,320,000 respectively. There are a few good buys in the $750,000
to $850,000 range. Residential lots continue to climb as the supply
dwindles. It will be very interesting to see where we are in that
market segment once the summer lot buyers pick through the inventory.
Currently there are no residential lots on the market in the Crowley
Lake area and the last few sales have been benchmarks, so that
market segment certainly seems poised for some additional
appreciation.
It looks like another busy summer of construction in Mammoth.
The Old Mammoth Road redevelopment will occur so look for a new,
narrower street with nice sidewalks, shuttle pull-outs, new street
lighting, seating areas, planters, etc.. While Intrawest is putting
the finishing touches on the first phase of the Village(Lincoln House
and White Mountain Lodge) it will also start construction of the
adjacent Grand Sierra Lodge. Intrawest will also begin construction
of Juniper Crest, a small series of million dollar plus townhomes on
the benches adjacent to Juniper Springs Lodge. It looks like things
will be fairly quiet at Snowcreek except for the finish grading at
Phase VI. Many single family homes are set to begin construction in
the upcoming months while many are just being wrapped up and ready
for occupancy. There are couple of smaller commercial projects set
for downtown Mammoth and a large employee housing project scheduled
for Main St.
Spring has come and we are receiving more snow than we did
during the winter, so it looks like a classic spring for daily
triathlons of skiing, cycling and fishing in the same day!
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