October 23 Market Update

Fall Has Arrived

Fall Has Arrived

I guess if you publish a blog in October you call it the October Market Update, but it feels like November already in the Northwoods.  The seasonal residents have moved somewhere warm, docks are out of most lakes and when you swerve to avoid a deer, you sometimes notice antlers.

The lakefront home market is also showing signs of winter.  Inventory is down as new listings have slowed.  We’ve even seen a couple of price decreases on existing listings that didn’t sell during the peak months.  Nationally, rates are higher than people under age 30 have ever seen, and prices are coming down some, at least in certain markets. 

The good news about the market slowing down is that I’ll have more time to put together some thoughts on the Gold Bar market that was (in 2023), and what that might say about the future.  We aren’t in the prediction business at Gold Bar, but we hope to keep you well-informed. 

September Sales
In September, 89 lake homes sold in the Gold Bar Market,  I noticed some higher-priced homes that sold after being on the market for a bit.  That shows in the data too, as sales volume increased in homes above $600k, but decreased for homes below $600k.  That caused the median sales price to bump up $100k, from $425k to $525,000.

Vacant lot sales were mostly stable:

October Pending Sales and Inventory
After a spike in inventory last month, there was a decrease from September to October.  This is why we were hesitant to chalk up last month’s inventory increase to high interest rates and higher prices – small datasets make for a lot of noise and often hide the signal.

Among the current inventory, 35% of homes/condos and 8% of vacant lots are on lakes with clarity over 10’, and those numbers have remained pretty flat this summer.  If history is a guide, we’ll see those percentages tic down as winter sets in.

At this time last month a total of 124 homes, condos, and lots in the Gold Bar Market were under contract.  As of early October, that number decreased to 109.  

As always, give Adam or me a call if we can be of help with your property search or with the sale of your property.  Here is a quick link to Adam’s email.