Remember Eddie the Eagle? Back in 1988, the hapless British ski-jumper from Cheltenham brought the small Canadian Rocky Mountain town of Canmore to the world’s attention during the Calgary Winter Olympics. His disastrous exploits on the nearby slopes turned him into a local comic hero.
A coal-mining town for most of the 19th and 20th centuries, Canmore had fallen on hard times until it was chosen as one of the main sites of the Games. It has since become one of Canada’s most exclusive winter and summer resorts. Tucked 4,200ft up in the Rockies, it has world-class nordic and alpine skiing, golf, fishing and numerous other adventure opportunities.
During the past five or six years, Canmore, in the booming, oil-rich state of Alberta, has also become an attractive property destination for overseas investors. Between 15% and 20% of new property sales in the area are now to UK buyers, with perhaps 10% selling to Americans — a percentage that is expected to grow substantially over the next decade as new developments come onto the market.
It’s easy to see why. I spent two days in Canmore, flying in from Los Angeles to Calgary, the fastest-growing city in Canada, just a short three-hour hop away. The trip from the UK is obviously longer: just over nine hours. There are direct flights to Calgary from Heathrow, Gatwick, Manchester and Glasgow, both on the charter airline Globespan and on Air Canada, which has prices from £352 return in the low season to £777 in summer, plus tax. The Heathrow flight leaves late in the morning and gets to Calgary by late afternoon, so you could be in your house in Canmore in time to make dinner, or to head off to one of the town’s restaurants.
I arrived in the dark, so it was stunning, when I left my hotel the next morning, to see the snow-capped peaks of the Rockies against azure-blue skies. Canmore is in the middle of the wide Bow River Valley, which means that most parts of town get direct sun most of the day, unlike many other mountain towns. It has a relatively mild climate: in the coldest winter months, average temperatures are about minus 5C. And, because the humidity is very low, the cold doesn’t bite as it can in other winter resorts. In July, temperatures average 22C and the whole area turns into a golfing, fishing and biking resort.
The biggest development in Canmore — in fact, the biggest development in this area of the Rockies — is the Three Sisters Mountain Village. Canmore sits on the edge of 2.8m acres of protected parkland, on which no development is allowed. The nearest big town is Banff, 13 miles away, which has a resident population of about 20,000, but nobody is allowed to buy a home there unless they work or own a business in the town.
The “Sisters” are three mountain peaks that hang above Canmore, known individually as Faith, Hope and Charity. The sheer size of the Three Sisters Mountain Village project, which encompasses 2,000 acres, has made it a subject of local controversy. As a result, very strict standards have been enforced to ensure minimum impact on the environment and wildlife, which is abundant. It is not uncommon to see black and brown bears, cougars or herds of wild elk wandering along their nearby migratory paths.
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As part of its planning agreement, Three Sisters has established large “wildlife corridors” in the development, through which animals can roam without any adverse contact with human activity. While I was touring the property, one of the wildlife biologists employed by Three Sisters was tracking a female cougar and her two cubs, which had come through the development a couple of hours before, their tracks still clearly visible in the snow. I also went on an amazing three-hour dog-sledding trip — organised by a firm called Mad Dogs and Englishmen — up a frozen reservoir and into the snowy woods, pulled by six eager, howling huskies.
The first phase of the development — Three Sisters Creek, begun a couple of years ago — is nearing completion, and of 561 homes, about 520 have already been sold. The next phase — Three Sisters Ridge and Paintbrush Ridge — has a total of just over 300 homes, most of which have also been sold, although 23 new-builds go on sale this month. The new Stewart Creek Village and Paintbrush Ridge Village are likely to be of most interest to UK buyers. About 350 homes will be put on the market there this year, ranging in size from 1,000sq ft to 3,000sq ft, and costing from C$400,000 to about C$1.25m (£196,000-£615,000). Seven Canadian firms have been contracted to design and build their own villages in these developments, varying significantly in size, price and style, although all adhere to an alpine theme.
Many of the larger, single-family homes have been built with timber frames, the wood harvested with minimal environmental impact. One of the least expensive units I saw included toilets that had won an award from the UN for their minimum-impact flushing.
Prices at Three Sisters average £225 per sq ft, rising 10%-12% a year. At the Wilderness Ridge development, a 1,250sq ft two-bed apartment, barely 50 yards from the third hole of the Stewart Creek golf course, was being sold for about £200,000.
At the other end of the scale, I saw a 6,500sq ft show home in the 19-unit Cairns on the Bow development, 12 of which have been sold. The £2m Canyon Lodge house has been built on five storeys to fit the steep hillside. You walk to the front door over a suspension bridge. The living room has a DVD projection system, with a huge retractable screen. There is also a sauna, and a pizza oven.
Canadian law — except in French-speaking Quebec — is based on English common law, so the rules on land title are essentially the same as in the UK. Buy-to-let landlords should note that because of strict local bylaws, properties at Three Sisters are not being sold as rental investments.
Over the next 10 years, the Three Sisters Resort Centre, a mini-town with 4,000 homes, will be built. The heart of it will be Three Sisters Village, built around a square, with about 150,000sq ft of retail and restaurant space. The plans include an 18-hole golf course (there are six in the Canmore area already) and a five-star health spa.
The build quality of the properties is undoubtedly high, and the area’s winter and summer leisure amenities are world-class. But Canmore is still a long way from the UK. Is it worth the travel time? Despite the distance, one of Canada’s distinct advantages is its level of comfort. For starters, the locals speak English. Canada is also safe and exciting economically. Small, affluent communities such as Canmore (which has just less than 12,000 residents) are virtually free of crime.
About 43% of Canadians have British origins, and about 15% hailed originally from Ireland. Because perhaps half the town’s residents have moved to Canmore within the past 10 years, there’s no sense of feeling an outsider here: it’s a welcoming spot on the roof of the world.
UK sales through Newfound Property, 020 8605 9520, www.newfoundproperty. com; Three Sisters Village, 00 1 403 264 9944, www.threesistersvillage.com
