If you’ve been keeping up with the Park City events calendar, you know that one of the biggest and brightest events of the year is just around the corner: the Sundance Film Festival. Starting January 23rd and running until February 2nd, Sundance is a celebration of cinematography, and also happens to be the largest independent film festival in the United States.

Sundance describes itself in this way:

“Our 10-day Festival welcomes more than 124,000 attendees and spreads out across three locations: Park City, Salt Lake City, and the Sundance Mountain Resort near Provo.”

Whether you’re a veteran attendee, or you’re looking forward to your first time at a Sundance screening, we’ve put together this helpful guide to make sure you can make it to the films you want to see in the most convenient, comfortable way.

Tickets

One of the most important things to remember is that each city in the Sundance event schedule is separated by a 30- to 75-minute drive, so you will want to make sure you select screening tickets in the city where you plan on spending most of your time.

Tickets went on sale January 16th, for locals. Tickets will be available until they’re completely sold out. The non-local public can purchase tickets starting today, January 21st, so if you’re planning on attending from out of state, you’ll want to make sure to be online right at 10am (MST) to ensure you can grab your seats.

The Park City theaters that will be hosting premiers and showings are as follows:

Eccles Theatre
Egyptian Theatre
Prospector Square Theatre
The MARC Theatre
The Ray Theatre

Making Your Experience Amazing:

Pro-tip #1: Don’t drive. While Park City is charming, beautiful, elegant, and a natural wonderland, it’s not known exactly for its parking availability. (Ironic for a place called “Park” City, right?) In reality, parking during Sundance is a nightmare. We suggest you come via carpool, Uber or take advantage of the free PC Public transportation.

Pro-tip #2: Dress for the occasion. Park City is a very walkable town, and since we’ve already discussed the need for ride sharing, you’ll need to bring proper footwear (i.e. insulated and waterproof snow boots). Sorels are the preferred brand of Park City, and they even have a whole line dedicated to the city! That’s just one option, if you’re in need of something with great traction but that is still very cute.

Pro-tip #3: Have a plan. If you already have tickets, YAY YOU!! We talked about ticket sales above, but you’ll want to keep in mind the distances between cities if you’re looking to catch a certain film in a certain place. And, if you’re trying to up your chances of catching sight of one of your Hollywood favorites, we loved this article that tells you exactly who is in which film.

For any of your other event related questions, be sure to check out the Sundance website, and be sure to check out the festival map that includes more details on each venue, theatre, and even shuttle routes.

We hope you have a fantastic time at Sundance! If you’ve got any down time between events, make sure to visit us at our Silver Star office (hello, free silver mine tour?)

If you’ve been anticipating this year’s ski season, and are up-to-date on the happenings in Park City, you’re probably aware of the newest action-sports resort that opened just a week ago. But if you’re not au courant, fear not. It’s our pleasure to introduce you to Woodward: a world-class, year-round action sports resort that’s changing the game of all-season recreation.

Woodward may be a tenderfoot on the Utah resort scene, but its offerings are nothing short of thrilling. The grand opening took place on December 14th, and world-famous athletes such as skateboarder Tony Hawk and Olympic gymnast Shawn Johnson were in attendance for the celebration! Woodward has both internal and external facilities, visitors and guests have their choice of drop-in sessions, all-access passes, day sessions, lift tickets, lessons, summer day camps, monthly memberships and special events. As stated on the Woodward website, “there is always a way to play for kids, and kids at heart.”

Rendering of Woodward Park City campus on Rasmussen Rd

In a press release regarding the start of ski season, Park City Magazine gave us this tantalizing description of everything to look forward to:

On tap for the new 125-acre Woodward Park City, woodwardparcity.com: tubing, skiing, snowboarding, BMX, cheer, trampolines, ramps, parkour, digital media, and more. The campus’s model is a progressive one, which caters to all levels of athletes. For example, terrain park newbies can get a taste of the action on the Start Park and eventually work their way up to a 22-foot halfpipe. And for those who lament Gorgoza’s passing, there will be 10 (or more) tubing lanes. A 66,000-square-foot indoor facility with all the full-throttle accoutrements of action sports (think trampolines, foam pits, spring floor, skateboard/BMX-like concrete park features …) accompanies the extensive, outdoor amenities. Daily lift tickets to Woodward will cost $50; and a month-long, all-access membership is $100.

The following analysis of select counties of the Utah real estate market is provided by Windermere Real Estate Chief Economist Matthew Gardner. We hope that this information may assist you with making better-informed real estate decisions. For further information about the housing market in your area, please don’t hesitate to contact your Windermere Agent.

Economic Overview

Utah’s non-agricultural employment rose by 42,100 jobs over the past 12 months, representing a solid growth rate of 2.8%. For perspective, the U.S growth rate is 1.4%. Year to date, Utah has added an average of 3,350 jobs per month, which is down from 4,200 per month last year. I expect we will continue to see modest slowing in employment gains as we move forward given the maturity of the economic cycle. Although the trend is slowing, I anticipate the state will see job growth around 2.8% in  2019. My early forecast for 2020 suggests that Utah will see employment growth of 2.6%.

In August, the state unemployment rate was 2.8%, below the 3.1% level of a year ago.

Home Sales

• In the third quarter of 2019, 10,562 homes sold, representing a solid increase of 8.2% compared to the same period in 2018 and 4.3% higher than in the second quarter of this year.
• Total sales activity rose in all but the very small Morgan County. Year-over-year, sales rose by double digits in three counties, with impressive increases in Summit and Utah counties.
• The number of homes for sale in the third quarter was only 2.6% higher than in the same period a year ago but was 11% higher than the second quarter of this year. There continues to be significantly more choice in the market, which is good news for home buyers.
• Pending sales in the third quarter were up 13% compared to a year ago, but were 7% lower than in the second quarter, suggesting that closings in the final quarter of this year may drop from current levels.

Home Prices

• The average home price in the region continued to rise in the third quarter, with a year-over-year increase of 9% to an average of $401,638. Sale prices were 2.5% higher than in the second quarter of this year.
• All but Wasatch County saw price increases compared to the same period a year ago. The contraction of price in Summit County was significant, but, because it is a small and very expensive area, I am not overly concerned this represents a pervasive trend.
• Appreciation was again strongest in Weber County, where sale prices were up by 13.7% to $298,333. As the most affordable market in the area, this is not surprising.
• The takeaway here is that home prices continue to appreciate at significant rates. I still expect to see some moderation in price growth as we move through the year and into 2020, but Utah will clearly continue to outperform the nation as a whole.

Days on Market

• The average number of days it took to sell a home in the counties covered by this report rose eight days compared to the third quarter of 2018.
• Homes sold fastest in Davis, Salt Lake, and Weber counties, and slowest in the expensive Summit County. All counties saw days-on-market rise compared to the third quarter of 2018.
• During the third quarter of this year, it took an average of 45 days to sell a home in the region, down from 53 days in the second quarter.
• The Utah economy is still outperforming almost all other states and this will continue to drive housing demand.

Conclusions

This speedometer reflects the state of the region’s real estate market using housing inventory, price gains, home sales, interest rates, and larger economic factors.

For the third quarter of 2019, I have moved the needle a little more in favor of sellers. Although the area has seen a modest increase in the number of homes for sale and days-on-market, prices, pending sales, and closed sales are higher, which certainly favors sellers.

About Matthew Gardner

As Chief Economist for Windermere Real Estate, Matthew Gardner is responsible for analyzing and interpreting economic data and its impact on the real estate market on both a local and national level. Matthew has over 30 years of professional experience both in the U.S. and U.K.

In addition to his day-to-day responsibilities, Matthew sits on the Washington State Governors Council of Economic Advisors; chairs the Board of Trustees at the Washington Center for Real Estate Research at the University of Washington; and is an Advisory Board Member at the Runstad Center for Real Estate Studies at the University of Washington where he also lectures in real estate economics.