Tuesday, September 25, 2012

October Lake of the Ozarks Real Estate Update

Current market data is showing recovery in both number of lake homes sold as well as an increase in property values based on the year to date average sales prices in some areas. While the overall average 2012 sales price of a lake home based on the entire lake area stats is down 6.5% over last year the number of sales is up 15.8%. 2012 is up almost 30% compared to the 2010 market low and there are currently 106 lake homes scheduled to close. It is also interesting to note that 2011 foreclosures represented 9.8% of lake homes sales. That number is down to just 6.9% in 2012. Average sales prices of privately owned lake homes are 40% higher than the sale prices of bank owned homes. I thought I’d break down a few different areas of the lake this month to give you a better snapshot of how some of these areas compare from 2011 to 2012 and to each other. I know you’ve heard “all real estate is local” but this goes even further in showing just how hyper-local it is. Turkey Bend in Osage Beach: Sales prices are up 8.2% with number of lake home sales up from 14 to 16. There are 25 homes currently available and there are 5 homes under contract. Horseshoe Bend & Lake Ozark West of Dam (non Four Seasons): Sales prices are up 5.8% with number of lake home sales more than doubled and area up from 21 to 47. There are 50 homes currently available and there are 8 homes under contract. Four Seasons on Horseshoe Bend: Sales prices are down 26% with number of lake home sales up from 31 to 38. There are 43 homes currently available and there are 7 homes under contract. Porto Cima on Shawnee Bend: Sales prices are down 21.2% with number of lake home sales up from 14 to 16. There are 36 homes currently available and there are 2 homes under contract. The Villages at Shawnee Bend: Sales prices are down 16.7% with number of lake home sales down from 4 to 2. Please note one of the 2 sales this year was a distressed short sale. There are 14 homes currently available and there are no homes under contract. Shawnee Bend (non Porto Cima/Villages): Sales prices are up 3% with number of lake home sales up from 14 to 16. There are 97 homes currently available and there are 6 homes under contract. Data has been obtained from the Lake of the Ozarks MLS based on lakefront home sales over the previous 3 years. These are just a few market areas here at the lake, I’ll compare some of the others in future articles. If you would like a detailed sales report on your specific property type or neighborhood, or would like information on the best buys at the lake, contact C. Michael Elliott & Associates at866.Your.Lake or cme@yourlake.com View thousands of lake area listings at www.YourLake.com. You can also log your opinions on Michael’s real estate blog, www.AsTheLakeChurns.com

September Lake of the Ozarks Real Estate Update

The latest data, just as my previous reports, further solidifies a recovery trend. The number of lake homes sold this year is up 39.9 percent above the low point of 2010. That’s a gain of 5.4 percent from last month’s recovery number of 34.5 percent. Sales prices fell 8 percent from 2011. When the market peaked in terms of units sold in 2006 it took until 2008 for the sales prices to quit climbing. I feel we’ll see the same in reverse during recuperation. The low peak for units sold was in 2010 and I believe by the end of 2012, we will see values to begin to increase across the market. We have already experienced this in a few select price points and property types here at the lake. Reports from Realtor.com show residential listing inventory has fallen 19.3 percent from July 2011. This trend, along with a 2.6 percent year-over-year median list price increase last month, points to some stability in the real estate market slowly coming along this year. The area with the greatest inventory reduction is Oakland, California. In the Top 10 turnaround towns, according to Realtor.com, the lowest median time on the market is less than two months. In the case of Oakland, less than one month. If all real estate is local, what’s this have to do with the market at Lake of the Ozarks? Just as we lagged behind the nation in experiencing a drop in values as well as units sold, I feel we are ahead of much of the country in an improving marketplace. That being said, we are primarily a second and vacation home area. When the rest of the country sees improvement in the full time residential areas, it opens the door for more of these homeowners to look to second home purchases. Condo sales are still up 17.8 percent over the 2009 low spot however, we did loose some ground over last month with a drop of almost 10 percent from the 27.4 percent increase I reported in August’s column. Sales prices were down only a slight 1.2%. Fall appears to be coming on strong, condo and lake homes currently under contract total over a fourth of all the condos and lake homes closed so far this year. If you’ve been hesitant to list your home, I feel that this fall will be an excellent time to get in or back in the marketplace. If you would like a detailed sales report on your specific property type or neighborhood, or would like information on the best buys at the lake, contact C. Michael Elliott & Associates at866.Your.Lake or cme@yourlake.com View thousands of lake area listings at www.YourLake.com. You can also log your opinions on Michael’s real estate blog, www.AsTheLakeChurns.com