Flathead Lake Real Estate Sales Report
The winter of 2019-2020 continues to be unseasonably warm and mild. The serious winter weather of February 2019 never materialized this year, and it feels more like spring every day.
There were three residential sales reported on the lake for February, along with two vacant land sales. One of the land sales is restricted by a conservation easement; explaining the outlying price point of $394 price per front foot.
We expect strong sales to continue into 2020 provided the national economy stabilizes after the wild ride in equities the past few weeks. The resulting record low interest rates and increased demand from feeder markets is likely to have a positive effect on our local real estate market. With a seven-year low inventory of residential lakefront listings, prices should continue to rise throughout the summer season.
February Sales:
Pricing and Sales Summary:
Active Waterfront Listings
Residential waterfront listings for this month are down compared to the inventory at this time last year (73 vs 93). The number of land listings has increased from 25 to 26. Total listings on the lake historically peak in August and bottom out between January and March. The residential inventory of 73 listings marks a seven year low (72 in January of 2013) for residential inventory.
Median list prices for residential listings dropped during the spring and early summer months as lower priced listings came on the market. After bottoming out around $1.1M, they have climbed back to just over $1.3M.
While land inventory has held steady, the median waterfront land price has risen over $100,000 from March of 2019.
Flathead Lake Condominium Market
With over a dozen waterfront condominium communities around Flathead Lake, there are plenty of options for buyers who want the waterfront lifestyle without having to worry about maintaining a lake home. Below is a list of all of the current condo listings for the various communities around the lake, along with a report of total sold units and average prices for the year.
The waterfront condo market posted 37 sales on the lake for 2019. With only 24 active condo listings, we have approximately five months of inventory currently on the market. This is a significant decrease from last year when we were carrying as much as 24 months of inventory.
Once single family prices began to rise with a decrease in inventory, the demand for condominiums began to increase. We expect to see this trend continue into the coming year as both residential and condo inventories are down significantly.
