Flathead Lake Real Estate Sales – Waterfront Sales
The Flathead has seen a few light dustings of white leading into the winter season, but autumn is still holding its own this year. There is a collective anticipation that any morning we will wake up to a foot of snow and we will all put our snow removal tools to work.
Building on an already strong sales year to-date, Flathead Lake waterfront sales for November included a handful of exceptional sales that pushed the year well over the top for the biggest year in waterfront sales.
The year-to-date totals are at 68 transactions representing over $70M in total volume. These record sales have 2018 yielding the strongest waterfront sales period in more than 12 years, preceding the first issue of this publication.
Significant Sale:
Shelter Island Estate Listed at $13.9M
The iconic Shelter Island property closed in November, six years after the original owner offered it for $78M in 2012. The property has received continued international publicity over the years that included a series of price reductions, brokerage changes, and transfer of ownership into an asset management firm.
The estate rests on over 22 private island acres in the middle of Flathead Lake. The five bedroom, eight bath estate includes 18,646 square feet with over 6,000 feet of private, secluded lakefront access. The estate is three levels, each level accessible via commercial grade elevator.
The sale included a 230-ft shoreline marina and boat launch on Rollins Lakeshore Drive for ferry access to the island.
November Sales:
Prices based on a per-waterfront-foot have continued to increase to around $4,000/ft for the entire lake after adjusting for improvements in the past few years. This year’s average had been averaging just over this mark, however the recent sale of larger frontage properties has dragged the price per foot average down to $3,984.
Annual Sales Data:
Active Waterfront Listings
Residential waterfront listings for this month are up compared to the inventory at this time last year (103 listings vs 94). The number of land listings has decreased from 33 to 27. Total listings on the lake historically peak in August and bottom out between January and March.
With the increased activity in waterfront sales, more owners have decided it is the time to sell and are listing their properties. As a result, listing inventory for residential waterfront properties remains higher over last year even as it should be diminishing with increased sales.
Median list prices for residential listings rose dramatically over the winter months fueled by a record low inventory. Prices peaked at $1.45M in February, dropping back below $1.3M in April due to new listings coming on the market. As the inventory of lower-priced properties continues to sell, the median price of active listings continues to rise. The current median price is just under $1.5M.
Median waterfront land prices also rose during the colder months to the $800k range due to the lower inventory and have settled back to just over $600k.
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 is maintaining compared to last year with 31 posted sales on the lake to date. With 42 active condo listings, we have approximately 15 months of inventory currently on the market. This is down from highs over the past few years where we saw as much as a three to four year inventory on the market.
Sold prices continue to move upwards, and listing prices downward to meet realistic market values. This has resulted in an increase of sales – especially in the Bigfork market.
Correction Notice: Last month’s Waterfront Market Report over-reported condo sales as it included 12 month trailing results and not 2018 sold-to-date numbers. The table below has been corrected and updated.
