Valemount

Valemount is pure mountain country. Its entire identity is hard-wired to the geography that surrounds it—the Rockies, Monashees, and Cariboos. This isn’t a town that happens to be near mountains; it’s a community of just over 1,000 people whose pace is set by the seasons, not the stock market. It serves as the western gateway to Jasper and Mount Robson Provincial Park, and that role defines its economy and its real estate market.

The local economy is exactly what you’d picture for a remote, recreation-focused hub. It runs on tourism. The top industries are accommodation and food services (15.7%) and retail (13.9%), with construction and healthcare providing some stability. While the 4.7% unemployment rate looks healthy, the economy’s reliance on seasonal visitor spending is a primary risk factor we monitor closely. Local purchasing power is another key consideration. A median household income of $60,400 means the pool of local buyers with significant capital is limited. We factor this reality into every deal that crosses our desk from this area.

The housing stock tells a similar story. This is not a high-turnover market driven by outside investment or a speculative vacation home boom like you might see elsewhere. It’s a stable, slow-moving market where properties are bought by people who live and work here. Single-detached homes make up the majority of the stock (63.7%), but the significant number of movable dwellings (22.5%) is a unique feature of the local market. The town’s demographics, with a median age of 44.8 and a senior population over 20%, reinforces its appeal to lifestyle buyers and retirees, not investors chasing capital appreciation.

All this leads to our lending philosophy for Valemount. We see the appeal for the right borrower looking for an incredible quality of life. But from a lender’s perspective, a small market with a seasonal economic base and modest local incomes requires a conservative approach. In an economic downturn, the pool of potential buyers is shallow. A property that might take three months to sell in Kamloops could sit for over a year here. That means extended timelines, higher holding costs, and greater uncertainty in achieving a sale price that protects our capital. Our primary mandate is capital preservation, so we underwrite based on that worst-case recovery scenario.

For these reasons, our maximum loan-to-value in Valemount is 55.0%. This isn’t a reflection on the quality of the community, but a pragmatic assessment of the risks inherent in a small, remote market. We’re comfortable lending here, but the deal has to be supported by substantial equity. Our underwriting simply reflects the time and costs associated with selling a property here if a loan goes into default.