$21M listing tops record month for Flathead Lake sales
This 15,000-square-foot home on 5 acres in Lakeside sold in September. It was listed at $20 million and included 520 feet of Flathead Lake frontage. (Photo provided)
The sale of a luxury estate in Lakeside capped off a record month for the Flathead Lake real estate market in September.
The 15,264-square-foot home at 1065 Lakeside Boulevard was listed at $21 million. The sale accounted for almost half of the more than $43 million in properties that were purchased on the shores of Flathead Lake last month.
The massive home was designed and constructed by Orlan Sorensen of Landmark Builders in 2009. According to the listing, the front door is constructed of 70-year-old cherry vats. The centerpiece of the great room includes an "avalanche rock fireplace with oversized boulders tumbling from ceiling to floor, and a bank of sliding glass panels that retract completely into stone walls erasing the barrier between indoor and outdoor living space." The home also features a total of five wood-burning fireplaces.
Eleven properties, including the $21 million listing, were sold on Flathead Lake in September, according to local Realtor David Fetveit. In 2017, for comparison, the total annual sales volume came to $43.9 million.
Because of diminished inventory and increased prices, the total sales volume hit its highest mark of any month in history.
The year-to-date total sales on Flathead Lake come up to $157.4 million, compared to $117.5 million in 2020 and $43.1M in 2019.
REAL ESTATE trends headed upward in other metrics, too. The average price per square foot surpassed $6,000 for the first time in over a decade. The average sales price doubled from 2019 to just over $2.2 million.
Higher prices are expected to continue through the fourth quarter of 2020, but decreased inventory is expected to diminish the transaction count, according to Fetveit.
The depleted inventory is evident in the number of active listings currently available.
Residential waterfront listings for October have dropped to record low territory, down to 36 compared to 66 at this time last year. The number of land listings dropped to 10 from 14.
Total active listings for October are 46, compared to 80 last year and 140 in October 2019.
Prices are erratic because higher-priced listings are rapidly coming onto and off of the market, but according to Fetveit, “the overall trend is that active listing prices have essentially doubled over the past 12 months.”
Median prices for residential listings are increasing, up to almost $4 million, while land prices are around $2 million.
Flathead Lake listings tend to be most plentiful in August and least available from January through March.
In the condominium market, there are 13 available listings at an average price of $709,069.
Reporter Bret Anne Serbin can be reached at 758-4459 or bserbin@dailyinterlake.com