The Beauty of Buying a Ski Home in Idaho? Nobody Knows a Thing About It

[mahatmakanejeeves]

I can scratch Idaho off the list. The whole article is online. The pictures are drop-dead gorgeous.

REAL ESTATE | HOMES

The Beauty of Buying a Ski Home in Idaho? Nobody Knows a Thing About It

Not typically regarded as a high-end ski destination, the state is attracting a wave of home buyers who want smaller resorts, shorter lift lines and a more low-key, laid-back vibe

By Nancy Keates
[e-mail]
Updated Sept. 30, 2021 11:39 am ET

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Demand for real estate is so high that there are currently no houses on the market for sale and only two condos—a stark difference from the 40-50 units for sale in the wider area at any given time in the past, says Patrick Werry, an agent with Century 21 Riverstone. Home prices have risen 40% over the past year in this resort village of about 700 homes.

“Everyone is trying to get on the bandwagon,” says Craig Mearns of M2 Construction, which has a three-year waiting list to even start building a custom house. Its latest spec project sold out in a month, even when prices increased from $550,000 to $950,000 for a unit.

What’s happening at Schweitzer is happening all over Idaho. The state is in the midst of a ski renaissance. As its resorts expand their ski terrain and add amenities, demand for homes is booming.

“Idaho is attracting people who want a smaller resort experience—the feel that other Western resorts used to offer but don’t anymore,” says Thomas Wright, president of Summit Sotheby’s International Realty.

Idaho’s ski resorts are scattered across the state and their characters are as different as the terrain that surrounds them, from the arid, celebrity-infused Sun Valley, to the insular, pine-tree dense village of Tamarack, north of Boise. All the way east is the wilder, remote Grand Targhee, in the Teton Range, located in Alta, Wyo., just on the border with Idaho. But the appeal of all these places is the same: low-key, uncrowded skiing with consistent snow.

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Idaho’s home prices have grown 42% in the past two years—twice the national average and the highest of all the states, according to Nik Shah, CEO of Home LLC., a down payment assistance provider.

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{In Sun Valley, the} number of sold homes was up 71% in August compared with a year earlier, the median price was up 20%, and the number of homes for sale down 56%. A three-bedroom, three-bathroom townhouse Ms. Rixon sold at Sun Valley last year for $2 million just resold for $3.6 million.

“People here complain when there’s four people in the lift line,” says Jean-Pierre Veillet, a real-estate developer. He moved with his family this summer from Portland, Ore., to Bellevue, about half an hour from Sun Valley’s main town of Ketchum, in part because his 15-year-old son Oliver is a ski racer and was attending a boarding school in the area.

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Write to Nancy Keates at [e-mail]

Copyright ©2021 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 87990cbe856818d5eddac44c7b1cdeb8

Appeared in the October 1, 2021, print edition as 'Idaho’s Ski Boom.'

[msongs]

1. will prices decline as the snow line rises? nt

[OAITW r.2.0]

2. The future of skiing is snow making equipment.

No snow, no ski.

[Bev54]

3. I used to ski at Schweitzer when I lived on the border in BC Canada in the early 80's

I loved the resort and the skiing. It was however my one and only experience of getting stuck on the chair and having to be brought down by rope and swing, when they had to shut the chair down due to freezing rain. We were on the chair for 2.5 hours on the first run of the day (for us). Had to pee so bad I wanted to jump but we were high up. Even with that I have fond memories of that hill.

[Tikki]

4. Bluewood is Walla Walla's Winter playground...

Last edited Sat Oct 2, 2021, 11:06 PM - Edit history (1)

Just over the Western border of Idaho..

https://discoverwallawalla.net/blog/bluewood-is-walla-wallas-winter-playground

Not sure if land or property there is less expensive in this part of the PACNW but there is skiing and Winter sports.

Tikki