July Market Update

A New Baseline?

A New Baseline?

The July Market Update is fairly predictable – inventory and sales are up, and prices still haven’t come down.  I’m not sure it’s entirely fair, but I think the “Summers of COVID” might end up being defined as 2020-2022.  In a lot of ways we’re beyond that, and 2023 might be establishing a new baseline of expectations for future summers.  To the extent that’s true, one thing is clear: people aren’t getting rid of their COVID lake home like they did their COVID puppies.  Instead, they’re hanging on to them.  So if you’re waiting for homeowners to tire of lake life, you might be waiting for a while.  

June Sales
In June, 53 lake homes sold, way up (40%+) from the 37 that sold in May.  Median sales price was $485,000, closer to prior months after a dip in May.

After several months of flat vacant lot sales, they finally spiked in June when 19 lots sold, over 3x the May total.  That growth was driven primarily by vacant lots under $150,000, but there was an increase across all price groups.

June Pending Sales and Inventory
The good news is that while sales are up, they weren’t up enough to hurt inventory.  In fact, inventory of homes and condos increased just under 40% last month – so there’s more options now than there has been since last summer.

The only metric that didn’t tick up significantly from last month? Vacant lot inventory, as shown below.

Among the current inventory, 35% of homes/condos and 12% of vacant lots are on lakes with clarity over 10’.  Those percentages had been increasing, but many of the homes on the nicest lakes did go under contract last month.

At this time last month a total of 93 homes, condos, and lots in the Gold Bar Market were under contract.  As of today, that number is up to 117.  People keep finding waterfront homes to buy, even while prices remain strong.

As always, give Adam (715.891.2222) or me (715.891.6659) a call if we can be of help with your property search or with the sale of your property.  Here is a quick link to Adam’s email.