real estate
THE MOUNTAINS ARE CALLING RECORD REAL ESTATE DEALS ARE DRIVING CONSTRUCTION AND RELATED INDUSTRIES TO NEW HEIGHTS IN WHISTLER AND PEMBERTON STORY BY ALISO N TAYLOR
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rom the ultra wealthy to the humble ski bum, Whistler has always had a laid-back, universal appeal. Fresh air. Clean water. A safe town. Breathtaking mountains. A close-knit community. Sophisticated, irreverent style. An unbeatable way of life. And yet, high-end homebuyers didn’t come around every day, despite this being the No. 1 ski resort in North America and the world’s mountain bike Mecca. Until now that is. Seven years ago for example, there were three real estate deals over the $5 million mark, according to the Whistler Listing System.” In the ensuing years, those deals stealthily gained traction—a dozen in 2016, a few more than that in 2019. But who could have ever predicted the staggering 30 sales over $5 million in 2020? Bear in mind, most of those deals happened in the latter 32
WHISTLER MAGAZINE SUMMER/FALL 2021
half of the year as the COVID-19 pandemic continued to wreak havoc in Whistler and around the world. This year is setting up to break even more records with 10 sales already over $5 million in the first three months of 2021. Now, more than ever before, Whistler is where everyone wants to be, as people search for safe haven and happiness, space and closeness to nature, away from the worldwide chaos. It doesn’t come as any surprise to longtime realtor Maggi Thornhill of Engel & Völkers who understood Whistler’s appeal, and potential, more than 30 years ago when she first arrived. “It’s a coming of age,” she says of the recent changes to the marketplace sparked by COVID. Whistler, she adds, always had the potential to compete with the best places in the world; the pandemic just sped it up. “It’s not just a coming of age of recreational real estate,” she says. “It’s a coming of age of the community of Whistler that can sustain people full time.”
