Flathead Lake Real Estate Sales
Sales numbers for 2020 remain up significantly over past years, due mostly to the record first quarter sales prior to the COVID-19-induced shutdowns. There were four additional residential sales reported in May, bringing the year to date total to over $25M. The past three years have only averaged just over $11M for the first five months of the year. This year’s numbers are bolstered by an $8.5M sale earlier in the year; but discounting that sale, we are still up over 50% from the three year average.
While a handful of contingent sales over the $1M mark fell out of contract and came back to the market over the past 60 days specifically due to the pandemic-induced shutdowns, inventory is still at a multi-year low.
Summer activities may be somewhat muted this year with the cancellation of concerts, parades, and other public events. However, most experts are not convinced this will diminish overall visitation. Glacier National Park just reopened this week. Even with reduced services, it is expected to draw millions of visitors this year.
The overall sense is that the worst of the shutdowns are over and there is an increased interest in Montana real estate. June 1st marked the beginning of the Phase Two reopening of the state by the Governor, although there were no reports of any significant enforcement of the advisories prior.
The basic drivers of Flathead Lake real estate sales still appear to be in place: inventories are trending down, prices are trending up, and demand is steady.
May 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 (94 vs 107). The number of land listings has held steady at 29 down just one from 30. 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 dropped during the spring and early summer months as lower priced listings came on the market. After bottoming out around $1.1M, they rose to the $1.3-$1.4M range, only to drop again with the sale of several high priced listings in the first quarter.
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 29 active condo listings, we have approximately nine months of inventory currently on the market based on the 16 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.
