One of the great benefits of all of these late winter/early spring rain events has been that the lake has been rising rapidly. More water – sooner – equals more fun! While the lake has been filling ahead of schedule so have the schedules of lake area Realtors®. We have not seen this kind of sales activity in March in many a spring.
Sales activity blossoms before the dogwoods
While spring weather came later than usual this year, sales were on a near record pace. Our records reach back to March 2007, and this March’s transaction total exceeded every March including March 2007! This sales pace was roughly 65% ahead of March 2013 – which we considered a recovery year.
What is interesting about this sales pace is that the busiest months for real estate sales on Lake Martin are usually May through August. Either there was a serious epidemic of cabin fever, or Lake Martin is about to see some new sales records this summer. Clearly people are ready to prepare for a busy summer on Lake Martin.
Sales activity has “legs”
The recent improvement in sales is not isolated to just this March. Looking at sales activity over the last year, we can see a real trend to the upside. If you look at the overall sales volume for the 12 months ending 2014 versus the 12 months ending in 2013, the gross sales volume for waterfront residential transaction jumped 9.8%. That is impressive enough, but the number of properties sold reached 269 units. That is an increase of 20.6%! (See chart.) More people are running to the lake for sure.
What is really impressive is the increase in sales of waterfront homesites. Many people want to build a more custom lake home, especially given the diminishing inventory levels. That desire has increased the pace of homesites sales by 60.1% in gross dollar volume and 65.1% in the number of sales. (See chart.)
Values are nearly as clear as the lake
Why are sales increasing? Well, for sure Lake Martin is growing in popularity due to the quality of the water. Certainly the economy is improving as well. But in addition to those two important fundamentals, purchasers and sellers are finding it much easier to place a reasonable value on properties. With the large number of transactions, it is easy to “know” a reasonable value. It is easier to price, easier to buy and easier to finance. That brings security to any negotiation.
Early April, activity is promising. Fewer properties are coming on the market this spring, so it is likely that there will be fewer properties to consider this summer. For those interested in finding a place on Lake Martin, we suggest you start that search soon.
05.2014
