Two lodges at Perisher and Guthega have been put to market as house prices in Thredbo drop, but a slow start to the season is unlikely to be the cause, a local real estate agent said.
Interest was steady for both the Guthega Inn and the Matterhorn Lodge, the selling agent for both properties, Alex Cherry from Forbes Stynes, said.
"You're not working 365 days a year like you are in most motels and hotels, so if you love being up in the snow and you want to work for half the year, it's actually not a bad business to get into," Mr Cherry said.
However, he said prospective buyers were put off by the leasehold system for properties that are situated within Kosciuszko National Park, despite 30-year leases remaining on both lodges.
While the long lease could give some sense of stability, it was too far out for NSW National Parks to give any guarantee of a renewal, Mr Cherry said.
"The biggest hurdle for a lot of people is that it is in the national park, so it's leasehold," Mr Cherry said.
"If you're looking at it strictly as a financial investment, it's not going to make sense, unfortunately."
Brad Fuge, the owner of the Guthega Inn, said the process for being approved to take over a property in the national park was also long, but he and many others were not put off by it.
Mr Fuge bought the inn four years ago because he wanted to prove that good food could be possible on the mountain, and was selling up because he felt he had done what he set out to do.
"We're open to the public, so a busy lunch, we'll do over 300 covers [customers]," he said.
"People will just meet their mates here, book a table. We do old traditional Steinlagers and we have German beer here. It's all about that product."
The inn was first listed for sale early this year, but despite early interest, the campaign was put on hold after the conflict in the Middle East began.
"People just automatically turned their heads back to what happened at COVID and how quickly the world changed," Mr Fuge said.
The renewed campaign has the price guide set at $3.8 million.
While Mr Fuge only opened the inn during the snow season and the summer holidays, he said there was potential for someone to make it into a year-round venture with walking trails and fishing also attracting visitors.
"We've got the best views in Australia," he said.
"We look straight at the main range of Kosciuszko. It's absolutely beautiful."
Over in Thredbo, two properties listed by Mr Cherry have recently been reduced in price.
House prices could be affected by a poor season, Mr Cherry said, but only "within reason".
"It's definitely not the only driver. It definitely has an impact but at the end of the day, there's always snow, so it's not like it stops," he said.
"It's just a matter of slowing down and speeding up, and we have good seasons and bad seasons."
Sale data from Thredbo, Guthega or Perisher is too limited to be conclusive, according to Cotality, but data from the wider Jindabyne-Berridale area show prices have stabilised over the past few years.
Overall dwelling values peaked in June 2022 at a median $994,346. By July 2025, they had dropped to $859,179. Last month, the median home in the area cost $851,495.
Mr Cherry said the reduced prices on his Thredbo listings were likely to be the market correcting itself after the post-pandemic boom.
"Regional centres like Jindabyne and tourism towns - they were probably impacted the most simply because people were able to work from home," he said.
As businesses begin to reverse their work-from-home rules, demand in the tourist centres was dropping, Mr Cherry said, impacting the price of property.
Homeowners in Thredbo Village are technically subletters from Kosciuszko Thredbo Pty Ltd, who hold the head lease over the entire Thredbo ski resort. The leases typically last 50 years, and residents pay a "bed licence" to the company, which covers communal facilities and utilities.
Mr Cherry said for most people, the decision to buy at Thredbo was not "just a financial decision".
"At the end of the day, people don't buy here because they want to go and live in a rural centre," he said.
"They buy here because they want to be at the snow and they want to do mountain biking. There's so much to offer down here."
