I recently wrote about the new Starwood timeshare vacation property at Desert Willow, scheduled for development under the Westin brand in late 2007 or early 2008. I want to share a few enlightening facts about California’s Coachella Valley, the fastest growing area in all of Southern California.

And while I am not prognosticating or recommending that anyone plan a timeshare deal based solely on this information, I think you will find these statistics very interesting. Knowing the next “hot spot” destination can prove to be valuable insight for anyone looking to buy or sell a timeshare condo.

The Coachella Valley is a geographic area that extends roughly 45 miles from Palm Springs to the Salton Sea. Nine cities are located inside this target area: Rancho Mirage, Palm Springs, Cathedral City, Coachella, Indian Wells, Indio, Desert Hot Springs, La Quinta and Palm Desert. There are over 100 great golf courses located here, included the world famous courses at Mission Hills, La Quinta, PGA West, Indian Wells and Tamarisk, to name only a few. And according to research developed by the Global Hospitality Group, the population of the Coachella Valley increased by 59 percent between the years 1990 and 2004.

So what is attracting the influx of both new residents and vacationers to this area?

Surprisingly, despite the number of luxury homes and magnificent resorts, the cost of living in the Coachella Valley beats that of Los Angeles, San Diego or greater Orange County. And the Coachella Valley still represents the desert playground of old-time movie glam stars like Bob Hope, Frank Sinatra and Bing Crosby. While all this fast growth and projected development will gobble up nearly 200,000 acres of undeveloped land in the valley, the good news is that despite such expansion, there will still be roughly a million acres of vast, awesome, spectacularly unique undeveloped desert land.