Time to review what has sold in the last 12 months and see if we can glean anything useful from the information.
First, let's look at the Manitowish chain. In the last 12 months, the sales of seven properties have closed; three lake lots and four lake homes. Think you know how much a foot of lake frontage on the Manitowish chain should fetch? Consider this: the first sale, a lot with 182 feet of frontage, sold for $210,000, or $1,154/ft. This was followed by a property with 439 feet of frontage (2 lots, actually) for $405,000 ($923/ft.), and a property with 100 feet of frontage for $229,000 ($2,290/ft.) What does this tell us? Not much, other than a blanket statement such as "A foot of frontage on the chain is worth about XX00 dollars" is meaningless. Frontage varies tremendously in quality and market value on most bodies of water, including the Manitowish chain.
The four homes that have closed in the last 12 months are located on Island, Fawn, and Spider Lakes, and on the Manitowish River channel between Rest and Stone Lakes. They had a combined sales price of $1,693,000, which was 91% of total list price ($1,853,800.) The average sale price was $423,250. The highest sale price was $600,000 (Spider Lake), and the lowest $245,000 (Manitowish River.) Contrast these numbers with the fact that the average list price for all active listings on the Manitowish chain today is $760,781 (median is $699,000.) Again,not much useful information due to the fact that we have so few transactions to draw conclusions from, but one thing is apparent -- there has been no activity in the high end of the market segment in the last 12 months (more like since 2007.) Well, I have to qualify that statement somewhat -- yesterday a home on Island Lake listed at $1,100,000 came under contract, but I am not counting it until it actually closes, which is never guaranteed.
Not all lake homes in Manitowish Waters are on the chain, by the way. Two other lake homes located in Manitowish Waters have sold in the last 12 months -- one on Dead Pike Lake, and one Stepping Stones #1 (my listing, I might add. I might further add that my listing on Circle Lily Lake also sold within the last 12 months, though it is located on the Winchester portion of the lake, not the much smaller Manitowish Waters portion.)
Let's cast a wider net and add Winchester, Boulder Junction, and Presque Isle to the Manitowish Waters statistics. Now we have a total of 44 closings within the last 12 months -- 14 lake lots, 29 lake homes and cottages, and 1 condo unit. These properties vary greatly in size, condition, and amenities and so one must be careful in drawing conclusions without making proper comparisons, but I still think that if we look at sales averages on this large a sample, it still gives us some clues as to where the market is at. For instance, sale price of the 14 lake lots averaged $154,017 (median $125,000.) For the homes (including the condo unit), average sale price was 88% of list at $397,605 (median $369,000.) For the lake homes, one did break $1M (Boulder Junction, High Lake, $1,300,000.)
That's it for now. If you would like some customized sales statistics for a certain geographical region, type of property, etc., please do not hesitate to ask.