Market notes – Market vaults past peak levels

The recovery is here! It was a long time coming, and no one shot off fireworks. It took a while, but sure enough, the Lake Martin area’s real estate has equaled or passed the “peak levels” of 2005 and 2006! Strike up the band!!

We took a quick look back at the past 12 years and there were some surprising statistics for 2015 versus the peak years of 2005 and 2006. The numbers were pulled from the Lake Martin Area Association of Realtors MLS. In 2005, the total sales volume for property in the Lake Martin area was $331,149,086 for 1,596 sides or 798 properties. (Editor’s note – In real estate, each transaction is broken into two parts or sides – one for the seller and one for the buyer.)

For 2006, considered by nearly everyone to be the peak year in this area, the total volume was $379,112,460 for 1,570 sides or 785 properties. For both years, that is a tabulation for waterfront and non-waterfront property of all types, residential and non-residential.

So, an apples-to-apples comparison for 2015 indicated that sales volume eclipsed both years with a total volume of $476,450,038 (a 26% increase) with 1,590 sides or 795 properties, which was just six shy of the 2005 number peak unit count.

As impressive as that is, the market does not appear to be dropping this year, in fact, early numbers show an increase over 2015 in total volume, total units and average prices. Strike up the band indeed!

We do expect the pace of total volume increases to taper offer slightly due to decreased inventory levels of available property and limited numbers of newly built or developed properties. This will certainly cause an increase in average sales prices bringing even greater value to the market. For information on market conditions and new properties, call one of our sales executives at 256.215.7011 today!