Flathead Lake Real Estate
November 2019 Sales
The late Thanksgiving is past and we are heading towards Christmas at a brisk pace. Snow is accumulating on the mountains slower than the ski areas would like, but forecasts indicate we should have another good winter season. Flathead Lake waterfront sales continue to post solid numbers late into the fall. With the exception of the $10M+ island property that sold this time last year, we are on track to match last years overall record sales volume. There were a total of seven residential waterfront sales in November and one land sale. Average waterfront transactions are holding at a near-record $1,040,915.
November Sales:
Prices based on a per-waterfront-foot had continued to increase to around $4,000/ft for the entire lake after adjusting for improvements in the past few years. The strong sales in the northern end of the lake through the summer have pushed the average to just over $4,700/ft on an adjusted basis for this year.
Annual Sales Data:
Active Waterfront Listings
Residential waterfront listings for this month are down compared to the inventory at this time last year (89 vs 103). The number of land listings has increased from 27 to 34. Total listings on the lake historically peak in August and bottom out between January and March.
The continued strength in residential sales has finally begun to result in a decrease in inventory. For the past 18 months, reserve inventory following 10 years of slow sales kept active listings high and downward pressure on prices. It appears that this trend may be finally reversing as residential inventory is down 12% heading into December and prices are creeping upward.
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 under $1.3M.
Median waterfront land prices have not varied widely, but show an overall upward trend in the $650k to $750k range.
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 since the first of the year.
The waterfront condo market has posted 33 sales on the lake so far this year. With 34 active condo listings, we have approximately 12 months of inventory currently on the market. This is a decrease from earlier in the year when we were carrying as much as 24 months of inventory.
Condo sales started off slow this year as the list prices and inventory of single family homes on the lake were competitive with the condo offerings. 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.
