Lake Lanier Activity in First Quater 2008

As promised, I wanted to give you the numbers on the sales activity on Lake Lanier for the 1st full quarter of 2008.

There were a total of 24 sales that closed between 1/1/08 and 4/1/08. Of those closed sales 4 closed in January, 8 closed in February and 12 closed in March, 2008. An additional 9 homes went under contract in this same time period.

The 9 that pended, they were broken down as follows:
1 Sale in the upper $300,000 range
1 Sale in the upper $400,000 range
3 Sales in the $500,000 range
2 Sales in the $700,000 range
2 Sales in the $800,000 range

Of the 24 sales that closed between 1/1/08-4/1/08 they were broken down as follows:

4 Sales in the $200,000 range
5 Sales in the $300,000 range
3 Sales in the $400,000 range
6 Sales in the $500,000 range
0 Sales in the $600,000 range
1 Sale in the $700,000 range
2 Sales in the $800,000 range
1 Sale in the $900,000 range
2 sales in the 1 Million range

As expected the pending and closed sales went up each month from January to April.

**In comparison to last year, in the same time period, there were 64 closed sales between 1/1/08-4/1/08. Here are some stats on the comparison:

1/1/07-4/1/07 the AVERAGE sales price was $628,000 and the average list to sales price ratio was 4%. The average days on the market before the home went under contract was 77 days.

1/1/08-4/1/08 the AVERAGE sales price was $613,900 with an average list to sales price ratio of 6%. The average days on market before the home went under contract was 99 days.

These are mathematical average of all sales combined. As an appraiser we would define this market as STABLE, not declining. It is too small of a variance to say it was declining.

Based upon the numbers shown above it would appear that the $500,000 price range is the most popular pending and closed sale. There were more than expected number of sales in the $300,000 and below range.

Now to the LISTINGS: There are approximately 322 listings of Lake Lanier homes with boat docks in place. Here is how they break down:

25 listings from $400,000 and under
76 listings from $400,000 to $600,000
95 listings from $600,000 to $ 800,000
50 listings from $$800,000 to 1 Million
69 listings from $1 Million to $3 Million
6 listings from $3 Million to $5 Million
1 Listing over $14 Million and most of you know which one this is!

Overall weighted average of listings comes in around $895,000. Based upon an average of 6% list to sales price ratio, average sale would be $841,300.

So it appears that the average sale price over the next quarter will be higher than the first quarter of 2008 and higher than the first quarter of 2007.

So buyers, you have alot of homes to chose from in every price range. Have fun looking and make 2008 the year to buy because as you can see, the prices will just continue from this point forward to go UP!

The lower price range bracket will continue to diminish and those in the upper price brackets will continue to rise. Almost 24.0% of the 322 listings are 1 million and over!

I hope this information has been helpful and as always.....If you are even thinking of buying or selling on Lake Lanier.....call an EXPERT......Yours truly!

Thanks for stopping by and Be Safe on the Lake.

Lake Lanier Waters Still Rising

We are up 6.0 feet since December and according to many Lake Lanier Realtors, the calls and interest in Lake Lanier is up more than ever.

Now for those of you who think you can get a Lake Lanier home for 1/2 its worth due to the drought, please think again! Yes it is a buyers market, but we are still dealing with Lakefront property! Values have corrected and been somewhat flat this year, but they are NOT declining.

This is what is important if you are thinking of buying Lake Lanier property .... 2008 is the best year to make that lake home buying decision...WHY? Because the dock permits will end this year most likely, the water WILL rise (check out my previous post about the history of Lake Lanier waters) and the market will correct. Once these 3 things happen, the homes on Lake Lanier will see increases as good or better than we have seen before and my opinion is that all of these factors may happen in close proximity to each other and you will see an increase in lake home values occur suddenly and quickly.

So DO NOT lose out on perhaps your last chance to purchase a Lake Lanier home while it is still fairly affordable.

Come on back, later this week I will provide March statistics on pending and closed sales for March and the 1st quarter of 2008.

Have fun and above all, be safe on the Lake!