Flathead Lake Real Estate Sales
Sales numbers for 2020 continue to push into record territory on Flathead Lake. The past three years plotted trend lines of an increasing number of buyers and falling inventories. Those trend lines met an inflection point this summer; possibly with a bump from COVID-19 shutdowns and civil unrest in urban feeder markets.
There were 15 reported sales on the lake for the month of July. Bigfork and Polson posted the majority of sales, and nine sales were greater than $1M.
Inventories continue to wane, with a strong buyer presence in the market. Of the 119 active listings currently on the lake, 52 are in escrow.
July Sales:
Pricing and Sales Summary:
Significant Sale
32951 Driftwood Lane – Woods Bay
265 Feet of Flathead Lake Frontage
1.19 Acres; 6,038 sf
List Price: $2,990,000
Stunning Flathead Lake estate on 265 ft of level waterfront, 1.19 acres, and a private Woods Bay setting with amazing views. Custom 5322 sf 3BD/3.5BA home, large open Great Room, chef’s kitchen with walk-in pantry, spacious main level Master Suite with an awesome Master Bath, 2 guest suites, exercise room, office/den, music room, hobby room, sauna, and expansive decks taking in the amazing lake and mountain views. Updated and designed with admirable finishes, hot tub, four fireplaces, natural gas central heat and A/C, and a 2-car attached garage. Property also features a 716 sf 1BD/1BA guest home, 1314 sf shop/storage building, seawall, two covered boat slips with lifts, immaculately landscaped.
Active Waterfront Listings
Residential waterfront listings for this month are down compared to the inventory at this time last year (95 vs 117). The number of land listings has dropped to 24 from 33. Total listings on the lake historically peak in August and bottom out between January and March. The residential inventory on the lake continues to hover around record low territory. The combination of increased sales over the past 18 months along with the current crisis has led to low inventory.
Median list prices for residential listings peaked during the winter months with high priced listings lingering on the market. As new listings have replaced sales, median price has settled back to just over $1.1M.
Inventories and prices of waterfront land have held relatively steady for the past 12 months.
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.
With 31 active condo listings, we have approximately seven months of inventory currently on the market based on the 32 sales since the first of the year. 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.
