Flathead Lake Real Estate Sales – Waterfront Sales
Flathead Lake is making its annual transition from long, warm, summer days to the cooler days of autumn. The highlights of October include cool, sunny days where the fiery reds and yellows from east shore cherry orchards are stunning against the dark Swan Range with the occasional snowy peak.
September real estate sales on Flathead Lake were strong with six sales, following August’s record numbers. Three of the sales were land, and three residential properties. The year-to-date totals are at 50 transactions representing over $36M in total volume. We continue to meet the expectations of increased sales for the year, and expect the positive trend to continue.
Significant Sale:
Shelter Bay Home $1.3M
Magnificent custom-built home in Shelter Bay. Enjoy the gourmet kitchen featuring granite countertops and high end appliances. Ample space for all your summertime guests. Entire master bedroom suite on the second floor with its own balcony to enjoy views of Flathead Lake. Located in a protective cove with 187 feet of frontage with south facing exposure.
September 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 dropped below this mark earlier in the year, but has rebounded as expected to an adjusted average of $3,959 per linear foot of frontage.
Annual Sales Data: 
Active Waterfront Listings
Residential waterfront listings for this month are up compared to the inventory at this time last year (126 listings vs 116). The number of land listings has decreased from 39 to 33. 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 holding around $1.4M.
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 27 posted sales on the lake to date. With 45 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.
