With the year near its end, I wanted to take a quick look at the Big Bear lakefront real estate market to see how activity and waterfront home values fared compared to last year.
The number of lakefront home sales is up 33%, from 14 last year to 21 this year.
Most price measures of Big Bear lakefront homes showed improvement as well. The average price rose 11% to $1,371,233 while the median sale price slid 2% to $1,100,00. The average and median price per square foot rose 5% and 10% to $475 and $425 respectively.
Days on market rose slightly from 187 to 192 while the average sales price to list price ratio rose 1% to 94%.
Higher end lakefront sales were exceptional this year, with two rare sales over the 3M dollar mark and five sales over 2M dollars. Previously, there had only been two other times that a lakefront had sold for over 3M in the Big Bear MLS and the 5 sales over 2M dollars ties the previous record for 2M dollar+ sales in a calendar year.
The number of Big Bear homes for sale has remained relatively high this year. This is mostly due to the lake's water levels being well below average. Although the lake has historically seen the lake levels cycle up and down (see figure below), many buyers hesitate to purchase shallow water lakefronts during down years. Savvy buyers in the past have purchased shallow water properties at a discount when the lake is low and resold once the lake filled up. This can result in some nice profits but comes at the risk of not knowing how long it will be until the lake tops off again.
Overall, other than that low water levels of Big Bear lake, the Big Bear lakefront real estate market rebounded nicely from last year's lull. If Mother Nature shows up this winter with lots of snow and the economy keeps moving in the right direction, I would imagine next year could be a record year for lakefront sales.