Ideal Ski Conditions Spark Condo Market : Brian Head Reports Resurgence of Real Estate Activity After Record Turnout on Its Slopes

Condominium sales have enjoyed a resurgence here, spurred by a record ski season, real estate agents report.

The southern Utah resort reported a total of 200,000 skiers for the 1987-88 season, which ends today. This is an all-time record, according to Burton K. Nichols, who heads Brianhead Enterprises Inc., operator of the ski area. Nichols said volume has more than doubled in the last 5 years.

Ticket sales for the 1986-87 season totaled 167,000, well above the 126,000 recorded in 1985-86, Nichols said. He attributed the record number of skiers to ideal snow conditions at a time when other western ski areas were not favored by Mother Nature.

The effect of this influx has been a resurgence of real estate activity, according to David L. Gregerson, principal broker for Equitable Federal Savings Bank of Fremont, Neb.

More Southland Buyers

“Southern California buyers now account for 60% to 70% of the market,” Gregerson said in an interview. In past years, Californians constituted about 40% of the market, he said.

Las Vegas buyers have dropped from 57% of the market to about 30% today, according to Gregerson.

Also benefitting from the high visitor volume was rental business, which has increased more than 40% since the 1986-87 season, he said. Gregerson, whose firm received title to the Copper Chase development in November, 1986, after foreclosure, said sales at the project this season totaled $2,736,130.

Gregerson said his office has done $5.5 million in sales at Brian Head in the last three years.

Shrinking Inventory

Brian Head’s inventory of 425 condominiums has been reduced to slightly less than 200 in the last 2 years, according to Damon Urtheil, general manager of Brian Head Resort Properties.

Copper Chase, with 74 units on the market in 1986, is down to 32 units, Urtheil said; Timberbrook Village is down from 37 units in July, 1987, to 11 units today; Brian Head North Condominiums (formerly Brian Head Inn) had 132 units in October, 1987, and is now down to 65 units; Giant Steps, with 18 foreclosure units available in May, 1986, was sold out by October, 1986.

“At the current sales pace, there should be no more condos available within two years, unless there is new construction,” he said.

The shortage of inventory will cause prices to rise, he predicted. Only two developers have disclosed plans for new projects, but neither is planning to build this summer, according to Urtheil.