Ski Megapasses and Local Housing Values
This paper finds that joining the Epic and Ikon ski megapass networks generally leads to a 5% increase in nearby home values over three years, though the magnitude of this effect varies significantly by resort and timing.
Original paper licensed under CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). This is an AI-generated explanation of the paper below. It is not written or endorsed by the authors. For technical accuracy, refer to the original paper. Read full disclaimer
Imagine a world where your vacation plans are no longer tied to a single destination. Instead of buying a season pass for just one mountain, you could buy a single ticket that unlocks dozens of ski resorts scattered across different states and countries. This is the reality created by "ski megapasses," massive bundles introduced by large resort operators that allow skiers to visit a wide network of mountains for one flat fee. While these passes have revolutionized how people choose where to ski, they have also sparked a quiet but significant shift in the communities surrounding these mountains. When a local ski hill joins one of these giant networks, it doesn't just change the price of a lift ticket; it changes the economic landscape of the town itself. The question researchers have been asking is simple: does joining this exclusive club make the houses nearby more valuable, and if so, why?
This question matters because the answer touches on the daily lives of everyone in these mountain towns. For the people who already own homes, a rise in property values feels like a windfall. For the local government, it means more tax revenue. But for the families trying to move there to work as ski instructors, mechanics, or shop clerks, rising home prices can make the town unaffordable, pushing essential workers away. The tension is real: a booming ski industry can make a town richer for some while making it impossible for others to live there. Understanding exactly how these new pass networks affect housing prices helps communities plan for the future, deciding whether to build more homes or adjust their budgets before the market shifts.
To find the answer, a researcher at Binghamton University set out to measure the impact of these megapass expansions on local housing markets. The study focused on the period between 2008 and 2018, a decade when two major networks, the Epic Pass and the Ikon Pass, rapidly grew from a handful of mountains to include over a hundred resorts worldwide. The researcher gathered a massive amount of data, combining the history of which resorts joined which pass with monthly records of home values in the specific zip codes where those mountains are located. By looking at the exact moment a resort announced it was joining a network, and then watching how home prices in that area changed over the next few years, the researcher could isolate the effect of the pass from other economic trends.
The results revealed a clear pattern, though it was not the same for every mountain. For the group of resorts that joined the Epic Pass between 2010 and 2017, the data showed a distinct jump in local home values. In the three years following the announcement that a resort was joining the network, home prices in the surrounding zip codes rose by about 5 percent. This increase was statistically significant, meaning it was unlikely to be a random fluctuation. The effect was strongest in larger, destination-style resorts that draw visitors from far away, such as Park City in Utah and Stowe in Vermont. In these places, the announcement of the new pass seemed to signal that the town was a premier destination, attracting more second-home buyers and investors who were willing to pay a premium to be part of the action.
However, the story was more complicated for other groups. When the researcher looked at the resorts that joined the networks in 2018, the results were much less clear. The group that joined the Epic Pass in 2018 showed a smaller, less certain increase, while the massive wave of resorts that joined the Ikon Pass in the same year showed no clear rise in home values at all. The researcher suggests that this difference might be due to timing and scale. The 2018 expansions happened just before the global pandemic, a time when the housing market was already beginning to behave strangely due to broader economic shocks. Furthermore, when so many resorts joined a network all at once, skiers might have spread their visits across many different mountains rather than concentrating their demand on one specific town, which would dilute the pressure on local housing prices.
The study also used a specialized method to look at individual resorts one by one, comparing their actual home price growth to what would have happened if they had never joined the network. This detailed look confirmed that the effect varies wildly depending on the specific mountain. While Park City and Stowe saw clear gains, other resorts like Mount Brighton, a smaller hill near a major city, showed little to no change in home values. This suggests that the "megapass effect" is not a magic spell that raises prices everywhere; it depends heavily on the type of resort and the local market. Large, remote destination resorts seem to benefit the most, as the pass makes them more accessible to a wider audience, driving up demand for nearby housing. Smaller, local hills that serve day-trippers from nearby cities do not see the same surge in property values.
Ultimately, the research provides a nuanced picture of how business decisions by large corporations ripple out to affect local communities. The decision to bundle access to ski resorts has tangible consequences for the people living in those towns. It can boost the wealth of existing homeowners and increase tax revenue for local governments, but it also contributes to the rising cost of living that makes it difficult for workers to stay. The findings suggest that while these passes are a boon for skiers and resort operators, they are a double-edged sword for mountain communities, driving up the value of real estate in ways that can price out the very people who keep the towns running. As these networks continue to expand, local leaders and resort operators will need to weigh these economic benefits against the growing pressure on housing affordability.
Drowning in papers in your field?
Get daily digests of the most novel papers matching your research keywords — with technical summaries, in your language.