Real Estate Market Report: 2022 Year End

The Whistler and Pemberton Real Estate markets were a bit of a roller coaster in 2022.

Real estate sales in the first two months of 2022 resembled the fast pace of 2021, but sales slowed significantly throughout the remainder of the year. This came as a function of economic uncertainty, with a poor-performing stock market and rapid interest rate increases, and an overall misalignment of buyer and seller expectations.

Whistler Real Estate Market

In Whistler, there were a total of 564* sales in 2022, which is the second lowest annual unit sales volume we have seen in the past 10 years, yet the second highest sales dollar volume with just over $1B in total market sales volume. Despite lower or falling property prices in certain regions of the country, prices in Whistler remained strong. The median sales price of a Whistler property in 2022 was $1,200,000, up from $1,050,000 in 2021 and a significant increase from $823,600 in 2019. In regards to inventory, Whistler started the year off at historic lows, and inventory has increased slightly throughout the year, but still sits about 40% below the 10-year average. International buyers accounted for just shy of 12% of property purchases and approximately 18% of the market in terms of dollar volume. While the percentage of international buyers doubled from 2021, fueled by the opening of Canada’s borders back in the spring, this is still lower than historic levels as international buyers typically represent about 20% of the market. As a reminder, both Whistler and Pemberton are exempt from Canada’s foreign buyer ban and are still open to international investment despite the ban, which we believe may drive some market activity for non-Canadians who are looking to purchase property in the Sea to Sky corridor. Looking to 2023, we expect sales to pick up and prices to remain steady as the Whistler market is bolstered by limited supply and high demand.

Watch Whistler Real Estate Market Report Video

Luxury Real Estate Market

The Luxury Market remained strong throughout 2022. There were 55 sales over $4M over the course of the year, with a top sale price of $17,250,000. The total number of luxury sales was down slightly from 2021, which was a record-setting year with 68 sales. Despite other market segments slowing down throughout the year, sales in the luxury segment remained quite active and showed little to no signs of a slow down.  

Pemberton Real Estate Market

In Pemberton, there were 93* sales in 2022. This was the slowest year for sales since 2013, which was likely the result of both a lack of move-in ready inventory and also the rapid interest rate increases decreasing the purchasing power of buyers. The median sales price of a Pemberton property was $829,000, up from $757,000 in 2021 and $508,000 in 2020. In terms of inventory, the number of units available this year was about 50% below the 10-year inventory average. As we look to 2022, there is some new and exciting development on the horizon for Pemberton, both this year and into the future. We recommend contacting your local Pemberton real estate agent to learn more.

Real Estate Updates You Should Know

Before we wrap up the Whistler and Pemberton real estate markets, there is one more major regulation change of note, in addition to the Foreign Buyer Ban, which was introduced at the beginning of 2023 and that is the Cooling-Off Period. This is an unprecedented change to real estate law that creates the legal right within a residential real estate contract for the buyer to rescind the contract within 3 business days of acceptance in exchange for a 0.25% fee. This cooling-off period cannot be waived or contracted out of.  

That’s it for our year end recap. For more information about the market or the recent regulation changes, contact your Whistler Real Estate Company agent. We will see you again in April for our Q1 market update.

*excluding parking stalls