Second homes in mountain resorts

Like seaside and other vacation resorts, mountain towns hold a huge share of second homes. 

As my origins are from one of those locales and my current residence is also found in that particular setting, it’s a situation that I know quite well. 

This is of course very tempting to compare and draw comments between these mountain communities. 

To set up that comparison, we’ll look at four locations, two in the departement of Haute-Savoie, in the French Alps, Chamonix and Morzine (the town I grew up in) as well as Vail in Colorado and Park City in Utah (my current residence). 

What we can see when we look at the table, is that in all these resorts, the percentage of second home represents around 68 to 84% of the total housing available, with new condos commanding a definite price advantage over old ones and single family homes are no longer priced for “normal” people with workers salaries. 

In all cases and on both continents, finding affordable housing is all but impossible for “essential workers”. Will this change and if so, when? I don’t see any practical solution floating on the horizon except for a severe economic and/or climatic collapse...