Credit: Bonny Makarewicz – The Province Squamish residents are upbeat about the opportunities the Olypics will bring to their community.

WHISTLER — There’s no doubt that hosting the Olympics will be good for real-estate prices in the Sea-to-Sky corridor.

But the Games will not be the pot at the end of the real-estate rainbow.

“When the Games were announced, our phones went crazy for two or three weeks and there were certainly some sales, but I think everything levelled off and we really never saw price increases,” said Mike Wintemute, general manager at Windermere Sea-to-Sky Realty. “For the most part, our prices for real estate are about the same, even though we went through that Olympic euphoria.”

The median price of a single-family home in Whistler is about $1.5 million today. That’s about the same as at this time last year.

But the Olympics will make a difference in the long run, said Wintemute.

“The Olympics will introduce Whistler to a whole bunch of people out there that aren’t aware of Whistler and because of the marketing the Olympics will bring, it should have a positive affect on the real-estate market,” he said.

Of course, this will only push the dream of owning a home in Whistler even further out of reach for the average resort worker.

That’s why, said Whistler Mayor Hugh O’Reilly, the resort is working so hard on plans to produce affordable housing for its workers.

A new Community Sustainability Plan should be complete this year, which will aim to keep 75 per cent of the workers resident in the community.

“We can’t provide everything for everyone, but clearly the community has still said, even with housing restrictions, even though they are not going to make a whack full of money on their housing, that it is important that they live here,” said O’Reilly.

A key part of this strategy is tied to the Games, as the resort plans to use the athletes’ village as resident housing in future.

The real winner in the real-estate market has been Squamish. But most in the business believe prices have gone up due to market forces rather than the Games announcement, although it helped.

Prices went up 37 per cent in the 18 months leading up to the Games. But since July 2003, the increase has only been about

10 per cent, and an average home in the Highlands now sells for about $380,000.

“We are not seeing any huge price increases here now,” said Lisa Bjornson, manager of Black Tusk Realty.

Squamish Mayor Ian Sutherland believes the highway upgrade, planned expansion of the waterfront including a ferry terminal, new amenities such as a movie theatre and good investment opportunities are drawing more and more people to the town of 15,000.

“People feel good about the community,” he said. “They feel good about themselves. There is a lot happening — the Olympics and so much more.”

Wintemute believes Squamish will also benefit from the increased exposure the Games will bring.

“[Visitors] might get to Whistler and say, ‘Geez, I can’t afford Whistler, but I wonder if we should look at that community just down the road?'”

Pemberton homes are selling for about the same price today as they did a year ago. A home that cost $442,000 in June 2003 would sell for about $445,000 today, said Wintemute.

But Pemberton residents are determined to grab the Olympic rings and gain whatever opportunities they can.

Plans are already under way to host a western winter carnival every night of the Games, a park-and-ride is under discussion and the local airport is poised for expansion.

© The Vancouver Province 2004