Back on Oct. 19, 2013, during a lively Q & A session at a Snow Lake Chamber of Commerce luncheon, Hudbay’s Brad Lantz was quite candid in answering questions posed to him with respect to employee testing and housing issues.
However, a few eyebrows rose when he commented on the difference in price between Flin Flon and Snow Lake real estate.
When asked about Snow Lake housing prices and whether they were in line with those in Flin Flon, Lantz said he personally felt they were a little high, but noted that that would be a judgment call by those buying.
“It depends who we bring in here,” he said. “Right now a lot of the people we bring here are transfers from Flin Flon who aren’t looking to relocate; they are looking for camp accommodation. When they are not working, they go back to Flin Flon. I would like to think at some point in time that they would not want to do that for 20 years… that they will want to stay here.”
This line of thinking has been the consternation of many in the community, particularly those looking to sell homes.
So it was interesting to see the research that local businessman Dave Mayer has brought to light.
In a recent email, Mayer stated he did a comparison of houses in Snow Lake, Thompson and Flin Flon.
The houses he compared in Snow Lake and Thompson were more closely related in size and vintage, with Flin Flon’s tending to be a bit older and somewhat smaller on average.
“I figured them all out on a per square foot price and then calculated the selling prices to the assessed values,” said Mayer.
The findings: In 2013, the Snow Lake houses sold for an average of $150.43/sq. ft. and 16 per cent above assessed value; Flin Flon houses were $173.00/sq. ft. and 32 per cent above assessment; and Thompson houses $211.31/sq. ft. and 3.5 per cent below assessment.
This was based on info provided by Gerry Haight (from the Assessment Branch) in the summer of 2014.
So it seems, in comparing northern Manitoba’s Mining communities, Snow Lake has some of the cheaper real estate.
My Take on Snow Lake is published on Fridays.
