Figure 1- Map of Resort Municipality of Whistler location
Whistler is located approximately an hour and forty five minutes north of Vancouver off of Highway 99 (see Figure 1 below). Over the past 20 years, Whistler has been experiencing rapid growth in its industrial, commercial and tourist sectors. Because Whistler has been experiencing such rapid growth in such a short period of time, real estate prices have escalated enormously since Whistler's induction back in the late 1970's. One problem that Whistler faces is that it is confined within a Valley which can be an inhibiting factor to its growth. Being confined to these walls limits the amount of growth that can take place, it does not leave too many options for development (see Figure 2). What this web page will attempt to do is show how real estate prices have changed over a 20 year period within the Resort Municipality of Whistler. Specifically, we look at three different years, 1980, 1990, and 2000. We have selected 5 specific neighbourhoods that will show a range of housing values over these time periods within Whistler's boundaries. What we will then show is how the prices for these specific neighbourhoods have changed (in ten year intervals) over time. Since Whistler has been growing so rapidly over this period of time, so has the number of residents living within Whistler. This has led to a higher demand for cheaper and restricted housing for residents living in Whistler. Restricted and employee housing throughout Whistler can then affect housing prices for homes contained within the same neighbourhood. What we will show is how restricted and employee housing can lower property values within the neighbourhoods they are in. To aid in the understanding of price change over time within Whistler, we have selected 9 specific properties or houses to look at. We took all of the transactions of each individual house or property (usually only about 2 or 3) and looked at how its value changed over time.
Figure 1- Map of Resort Municipality of Whistler location
