Further proof of the uncanny ability of our market to be both hot and cold at the same time is provided courtesy of the rather slow September at Abbey Springs. While the lakefront and lake access market went on a nice tear this fall, Abbey Springs hasn’t been quite so lucky. There appears to be only one pending sale in Abbey Springs as of this morning, with an additional twenty-one units on the open market. Even though Abbey Springs has private lake access to Geneva, and it’s in Fontana, it hasn’t enjoyed the influx of activity that lake access homes in the same price range have enjoyed over the last five weeks. Within the broad Lake Geneva vacation home market, individual segments can be hot while others run ice cold. Abbey Springs is, at the moment, tepid at best.
2010 has been a good year at Abbey Springs, with fourteen YTD sales ranging from $155k to $857k. Of those sales, five have closed for less than $200k, and three for more than $500k. To put those sales numbers in better context, consider the post from yesterday about our friend Geneva National. An inventory to sold comparison is an easy way to identify the strength and liquidity of an individual market, and in this case, it represents just how good Abbey Springs has it. In GN, there are 131 units on the open market and there have been 20 YTD sales. It would be convenient and trendy for me to now tell you that based on those numbers there is roughly six years of inventory at Geneva National. That’s ignorant thinking. There’s no reason for every unit to sell, which makes those inventory statistics ridiculous and sensationalized. As an owner, I don’t care one bit about the other 130 units available, I only care about mine. If I sell, who cares what happens to the rest of the market? Anyway, back to the statistics. GN has 20 sales against 131 active inventory. Abbey Springs has 14 sales against 21 active inventory. You tell me which market has greater liquidity.
That said, it’s not all peaches and cream for Abbey Springs. Man do I love cream… I have a listing in Abbey Springs at the moment (125 St. Andrews Trail), and activity on that listing has been moderate at best. There doesn’t appear to be a huge buyer pool activity looking at that price range within Abbey Springs, while the broader lake access market has had an influx of activity in that price range over the pas several months. It’s obvious that Abbey Springs isn’t for everyone, but it’s particularly not for anyone that wants to be close to the water. See, for all the attributes and luxurious common amenities, a house in Abbey Springs isn’t going to be nearly as close to the water as, say, a house in the Loch Vista Club might be. Or a house in the Lake Geneva Club, or Glenwood Springs. That proximity issue is a big one, and if I can see any reason that the market is picking around, but not necessarily in, Abbey Springs, the tendency for buyers of late to seek proximity to the water in this price range may be hurting sales at Abbey Springs.
The fourteen year-to-date sales remain one sale short of the 2009 pace of fifteen sales, but are well ahead of the dismal 2008 time frame that saw just five closed transactions. Even so, the 2010 volume is far below the 2007 and 2006 YTD figures of twenty and twenty-six respectively. The numbers make sense, as Abbey Springs has found some solid footing over the past two years, after just one horrible year that combined a stock market meltdown with a massively thorough and outrageously expensive renovation of the clubhouse and association amenities. There’s reason to believe that Abbey Springs will always be a staple in the Lake Geneva vacation home market. The amenities and location are unparalleled in this market, and the combination will always lure buyers seeking an activity rich lakeside development.