This time of year the Lake Geneva real estate market will do one of two things. It will either push slowly and methodically to the end of the year, or it will remain as active as it has been for much of the past several months. Under the first scenario, it’s just a tidying up of the closings on properties that are already under contract, inching inevitably closer towards December 31st. The market will calm, fresh deals will be fewer and far between, and we’ll focus our attention on closing out what will prove to be the best year ever for the upper bracket lakefront market. The alternative course is that we add some new inventory over the next few weeks and that inventory is met with buyer interest. If that occurs, we’ll also likely see a push on some of the aged inventory that has been clogging the market for most of this year. New inventory that sells quickly helps aged inventory simply because it shows buyers that time is, likely, of the essence.
It’s early fall here, but it’s late fall for the real estate market. We have plenty of time left of active selling season, as I’d just as easily sell a lakefront in October as in June. The serious buyers will remain engaged throughout the change of seasons, those who understand that this search should not be taken lightly nor should it be considered over just because the leaves have begun to change. But the summer buyers who operate on whim and fancy, those buyers will slowly drop off as the temperatures cool and the leaves dull and fall. November, now that’s a month for the serious buyer. Things are brown, and the things that aren’t brown are gray. Daylight is limited, sunshine, too. The buyers that remain through October and last into November are the real buyers, and I think there are more of them in the market today than I’ve seen in a long time.
The issue today is inventory, as we only have 22 true lakefront homes available as of this morning. We haven’t seen much by way of new product this fall, and the two of the three new lakefronts that have hit the market recently sold immediately (Lakeview, $1.3s, Sidney Smith, $3.8s). I continue to expect new lakefront inventory to come to market, but I continue to be disappointed with each passing day. In February, it’s no big deal when a week passes without fresh inventory, because the next week will be better and the week after might be March. But in October, the next week might also be quiet and the week after might be November. Lakefront properties have been listed between Thanksgiving and Christmas, but that’s a rare seller who decides to present to the market during that traditionally slow market. Still, if a seller is paying attention to the limited inventory she would do well to list into that environment, no matter what the calendar says.
Today there are several lakefronts pending sale. There’s the entry level on Lakeview that I mentioned earlier, and there’s the Marianne Terrace listing in the low $2s. That’s right next door to my listing that’s offered at a similar price. Shamefully, I haven’t sold my listing yet. The new listing on Sidney Smith of a home under construction sold quickly, and that sale is a very important data point for buyers looking to build new. That property sold for $1.925MM in 2015, and the seller began construction on a new home just a couple of months ago. That home was new, but it struck me as being rather basic as presented to the market, yet it sold and it sold quickly. For buyers considering new construction projects, this is a reminder that the market is quite liquid for newer construction on reasonably nice lots (100 or so feet of frontage) priced below $4.5MM. This is a segment of the market that wasn’t particularly tested until this year, and it’s now obvious that buyers will gravitate towards new construction in this price range. Lastly, my lakefront for $7.95MM in Fontana is pending sale.
So which scenario do think will play out? Will there be new inventory that will be excitedly gobbled up by the market? Or will the market slow as a result of stale inventory? I think it’s likely the latter, but I also know that as soon as you count this market out and expect it to sleep for a few months, it has a tendency to surprise. Still, expect a normalized market as we head into fall. Buyers will revisit aged inventory one last time, and they’ll be ready to pounce if any interesting new inventory presents itself as we move towards winter.