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Home All-Stars: America’s Most Wanted

January 1, 2006

Park City
While Utah might have lagged behind the rest of the nation in latching on to the recent real estate boom, it made up for it in 2005. This was especially true in Park City’s resort condo market, where residences priced below $1 million have appreciated more than 50 percent on average during the course of the past year.

A residence in Park City. Photograph courtesy of Lewis, Wolcott & Dornbush Real Estate. (Click image to enlarge)

"As a sector, it was undervalued for years and now it has just really begun to come into its own," says Dennis Hanlon of Lewis, Wolcott & Dornbush and former president of the Park City Board of Realtors. "The market for luxury condos has been quite strong as well, with those valued at more than a million dollars appreciating about 20 percent since 2004."

Frontier-style homes on the market through Lewis, Wolcott & Dornbush Real Estate for $2.9 million (Top and Middle photos) and $12 million (Bottom photo). Photography courtesy of Lewis, Wolcott & Dornbush Real Estate. (Click images to enlarge)

With three major ski areas located in the area–the Canyons, Deer Valley and Park City Mountain Resort–Park City offers more ski-in and ski-out properties than any other U.S. ski destination. Still, inventory is fairly tight for single-family residences at the most desirable locations, and that is reflected in the premium prices. One of the more attractive locales, the Colony, at the Canyons Resort, offers direct ski access from five- to 10-acre heavily wooded parcels priced from $1.3 million to $3 million. Homes range from $5 million to $25 million. Another new development getting plenty of attention is Red Cloud, in Deer Valley, where its one-acre lots with direct ski access and mountain views start at $2.25 million.

With virtually all of the vacant private land around Park City now developed, there has been a resurgence of interest in the city’s Old Town, according to Hanlon, especially those properties that are close to the base of Park City Mountain Resort. The signature "mountain contemporary" style homes in Old Town start at about $1.2 million. That will not include direct ski access, but the mountain views, says Hanlon, are "absolutely awesome."

Sun Valley
The trend of buying smaller in-town as opposed to buying large on the outskirts has also landed in Sun Valley. "The allure of owning your own private Idaho seems to have passed," says Jim Figge, president of the Sawtooth Board of Realtors. "In the 1980s and 1990s there was an exodus south toward Hailey and away from Ketchum. But more and more, what we are seeing is people wanting to get closer to the conveniences of town."

As a result, condos and townhomes around Ketchum (coined Mid-Valley by locals), which sold for an average price of about $534,095 in 2005, are a particularly hot commodity and have soared in value compared to single-family residences, which average around $1.45 million.

River Front Mountain Lodge, a recently sold property that was on the market for $9.5 million with Sun Valley Associates. Photography by Tom Kubin Photography. (Click images to enlarge)

The most desirable neighborhoods offer mountain views and, if not direct frontage, then at least proximity to the Big Wood River. But inventory in such neighborhoods is tight, and vacant lots can be found in only a few places, like Northwood, Beaver Springs and Adam’s Gulch. The Sun Valley lodge-style home, with its log structure, great rooms and open dining and kitchen areas, remains far and away the most popular architectural style.

One of the more popular locales for second-home buyers, according to Figge, is the Lane Ranch neighborhood, where lots are about half an acre and spectacular homes can be had for about $2.5 million.

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