REAL ESTATE NEWS
By Thomas Shomaker
Main Photo: Aaron Jamieson
One of Niseko’s leading hotels, Park Hyatt Niseko has reported it has more bookings from the US than any other country except for Japan this winter.
This marks an interesting trend building away from the traditional Australia, Hong Kong, Singapore, Asia customer base.
It comes on the back of the current weak yen against a strong greenback and increased awareness of Niseko in the US over recent years, culminating now with the post-pandemic return of tourism.
About one in 10 visitors at newly-opened condo-hotel Setsu Niseko (the largest in Niseko) are from the US, surprising Sales & Marketing Manager Scott Mountford.
“We’re still getting the word out about Setsu Niseko so I’m very happy with this figure,” he said.
“It should remain about 10% with the interest some agents are seeing from North America.”
Precursor to Real Estate Spillover
Along with more domestic tourism and investment through the pandemic, there are hopes this may be the start of significant real estate investment from the US.
US ski areas are well known for sprawling ski chalets worth tens of millions of dollars.
With more and more mega-homes being built in Niseko by the ultra-rich mainly out of Asia, is there the possibility Americans acquiring an interest in real estate in the powder snow capital of the world?
H2 Christie’s International Real Estate Sales Director Paul Butkovich said they had an increase in inquiries from the US since their rebrand earlier this year and associated publicity in the US.
He said so far there wasn’t a noticeable increase in US investors on the ground, but said more American visitors could be a precursor to real estate investment.
“They’re interested but it’s early days,” Butkovich said.
”Every time you see direct flights or increased visitor numbers from a certain area it's often a precursor to sales picking up from that region
Paul ButkovichH2 Christie's International Real Estate Sales Director
Niseko Property Real Estate Sales Consultant Frank Ferrett said that while he has observed “more and more Americans”, it was still too early to tell if this will have an effect on real estate sales.
American Skier Spending Habits
Niseko Tourism Chief Marketing Officer Acme Wu said that almost all of the restaurants and accommodations she has spoken with this year are reporting higher numbers of American guests.
“The weak yen is a large incentive,” Ms Wu said.
“The biggest struggle guests are having is the flight tickets.
“Once they get over that hurdle, everything here is affordable.”
“A lot of Europeans when they come, they want to stay in pensions, backpacker style, hardcore skier,” said Wu.
“They might have to wake up really early to hike.”
Americans, on the other hand, certainly come for the skiing, but this goes hand in hand with nightly restaurant dinners and evening drinks.
Strong Group Bookings for Next Winter 2023/24
Niseko Village Resort Director Panch Ratnavale said American ski club group tours often stay at their properties, but bookings were down this year due to the late opening of the Japanese border.
He said pent-up demand meant they already had strong bookings from the US for the 2023 / 2024 season.
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