Ridge Growth Continues

Ridge growth drives the Lake Martin market

The largest waterfront community on Lake Martin continues to grow. Over the last decade, The Ridge has registered very impressive growth numbers despite “the great recession” of 2010 through 2014. This has been especially evident with the flurry of construction activity over the last 24 months.

A quick look at this decade

We are nearing the end of a decade of sales for The Ridge. The numbers are worth a look. Since January of 2010, we have noted the following sales data:* 130 residential properties have sold in The Ridge (new and existing) totaling $198,172,362 in gross sales volume. That total brings the total number of finished waterfront homes in The Ridge to just over 300 as of this writing.

Add to that number the sale of 105 waterfront lots totaling $39,663,000 in The Ridge over that same time period, and we see impressive investment of $237,836,162 in waterfront homes and homesites in The Ridge over that same period. The total number of built and “sold” properties in The Ridge now stands at roughly 375 properties.

The investment amount is actually much higher, since many of the homes contracted in The Ridge are custom and the construction costs are not reported to the MLS. Those transactions are private between the builder and the owner. We conservatively estimate those projects total another $75,000,000 over that same time period, with several multi-million-dollar projects completed or underway.

Pace quickens over the past year

For the first five years of this decade, the total number of sales averaged just 11 home sales per year, with 2013 being the low-water mark at just 7 transactions. That average increased to 15 sales per year for the remainder of the decade, with 21 sales reported in the last 12 months alone.

The total dollar volume for the past year of home sales in The Ridge was $25,507,117, averaging $1,275,355 per transaction. The total dollar volume for all Lake Martin waterfront homes and homesites for that same period was $152,905,058 and $685,673 respectively. That means The Ridge totaled 16.68% of all waterfront single-family home sales on Lake Martin.

When you take out the property sales for The Ridge from the overall market numbers, the lake-wide average sales price for waterfront homes drops to $627,576 or just 49.21% of the average sales price in The Ridge.

Amenities and design drive values

Owners in The Ridge have numerous amenities available to them. The Ridge boasts one of the largest lakeside marinas in the world, a world-class clubhouse with fitness, swimming and tennis facilities, miles of sidewalks and trails, numerous parks, private boat ramp, access to the Russell Forest, 24-hour security, sewer system and close proximity to Russell Crossroads.

An important factor in the value of Ridge property has been the careful and consistent controls provided by The Ridge Protective Covenants and Design Guidelines as enforced by The Ridge Homeowners Association and The Ridge Architectural Review Committee. Our love of beautiful lake homes has drawn lots of attention from prospective owners as well as encouraging a favorite lake past-time—viewing beautiful lake homes from the water!

What to expect

South Ridge Harbor has been the focus for new development activities from Russell Lands for the past two years. South Ridge is the southern top of The Ridge community, and the section facing west towards Kowaliga has been very popular. So popular we virtually sold out of developed lots. For that reason, we are in the planning stages of adding new west facing lots in this area.

For news on our next addition to The Ridge or information about available homes or homesites, please call one of our Sales Executives at 256.215.7011 today.

* All sales information used in this report is pulled from data from the Lake Martin Area Association of Realtors MLS.