If you’re asking why the lakefront condominium has fallen out of favor with vacation home buyers, I’d offer up several possible scenarios. Some involve cycles, mortgages, simple supply and demand sort of speculations. However, what is likely the primary driver of this absence of buyers in this segment is pure demographics. Vacation home buyers today are generally younger than the vacation home buyers of a generation ago. They are also far more likely to live in the city itself, as these were suburban children that moved to the city after college to enjoy Lakeview or Bucktown or the like, and then, instead of flocking back to the suburbs to raise children they decided to raise them right there. These are city dwellers, living in condominiums or tight, vertical homes on tree lined city streets, and the last thing that these who live in tight confines dream of is a vacation home with similar constrictions.
And so it goes, a generation of buyers that is fueling our market momentum and whom, as it seems to me, will ignore the lakefront condo segment altogether. If this is a bad sign moving forward for the condo market I cannot say, as even these buyers will age and perhaps turn their sights on easier, less cumbersome vacation home options that may or may not include condominiums. Whatever the future, the past is well documented. The lakefront condo market has been nothing short of a miserable failure over recent years. That’s well known, but what could come as a surprise to some is that the lakefront condo market is currently buzzing with activity.
On Monday, I sold the double unit at Fontana Shores for $825k. The sale was a touch complicated, but to the market the only thing that matters is that this is indeed a sale, and it printed at $825k. That sale should provide a boost to my rare listing at Eastbank in Lake Geneva, where a newly reduced price of $775k buys a huge amount of lakefront square footage, with ample lake views, a canopied boat slip, a two car garage, and two fireplaces. If you’re an upper end lakefront condo buyer, there is simply no better unit available than this residence at Eastbank. But this Fontana Shores sale isn’t the only thing to celebrate.
There is a contract pending on a unit at Bayshore, leaving my unit priced at $369k as the sole piece of inventory there. Bayshore has long been the most economical option on the lake, and it remains so. It is, hands down, the cheapest way to own a lakefront condo on Geneva Lake. The dues and taxes are lower than the competition, the lakeside pool the only of its sort on the entire lake, and the boatslips are readily available to each owner. For bargain hunters who fear a market swing has left them with sad faces and no luck, this remains an opportunity begging to be seized.
There are other showings too. Bay Colony has activity, and plenty of inventory, as does the Fontana Club. There is an interesting proposition at Geneva Towers on the market currently, and I’m not sure how I feel about it. A developer is attempting to remake that aged building, one unit at a time. The offerings of renovated condominium units are listed over $1MM, which is above and beyond the ceiling for lakefront condominiums that is made less of glass and more of concrete and steel. I don’t think this project will be successful, as nothing involving the lakefront condo market over recent years has told me that it’s time to reposition a building into the elite pricing category. If units don’t sell when cheap, let’s make them super expensive and then they’ll sell! Maybe, but probably not.
While the broader vacation home market has improved significantly over the past 12 months, and prices are likely even up in some segments, the lakefront condo market remains a weak spot that should yield tremendous values to bargain hunting buyers this fall. If you feel like stealing something, put down the Prada hand bag and just get up to the lake.