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By: Mike Kennedy mkennedy@railey.com 301-616-6106 May 1st, 2008 Category: Deep Creek Lake Market Update |
The first quarter of 2008 is officially in the books for the Deep Creek Lake real estate market. Not to anyone’s surprise the first quarter of this year was a lot like the first quarter in 2007. All market signals are starting to point that 2008 will be a lot like 2007 - which was slight decrease or stable amount of transactions the rest of the year - but overall modest appreciation gains for most property owners. In 2007 things started off slow like this year but really picked up during our traditionally strong selling season of June, July, and August. A quick summary of the market is below;
Homes Sold
Thru the first quarter of 2008, 34 homes in the Deep Creek Lake area have sold with an average sold price of $637,929 - this compares to 37 homes sold in the first quarter of 2007 with an average sold price of $537,565 - a difference of only 3 homes. These homes include all lakefront, lake access, and lake area homes.
Lots/Land
Thu the first quarter of 2008, 18 lots have sold in the Deep Creek Lake area broken down as follows - 1 lakefront lot, 6 lake access lot, and 11 lake area lots. This compares to 21 lots sold in 2007 - 0 lakefront lots, 4 lake access lots, and 17 lake area lots.
Contracts
Currently, there are 17 residential properties under contract - 7 lakefront homes, 4 lake access homes, 2 homes a top Wisp Ski Resort, and 4 lake area homes. The highest demand thus far this year has been the higher-end lakefront homes with good settings - private Type A dock, deep water, good views, wooded, with a newer home.
Future Factors
There are some factors on the horizon that could make the demand stronger for real estate at Deep Creek Lake and Garrett County for the rest of the year. These include;
- More vacation rentals already booked for the 2008 summer season. Some renters turn into buyers - or most renters will go back home and tell their friends, familiy, and neigbors what a great place Deep Creek Lake is. That usually spurs more people to explore real estate opportunities in this market.
- Interest rates continue to remain relatively low. Jumbo loan rates as of today are still in the mid-to low 6% range - still very low historically speaking.
- Continued improvements to the area. A few new restaurants should be open before the start of the summer and the proposed Aqua Mountain indoor waterpark is still in the works even though plans have not yet been finalized and construction is not yet guaranteed.
May 6th, 2008 at 10:27 am
Interesting update. Although I’d be curious about time-on-market statistics for houses that are sold.
May 7th, 2008 at 12:42 pm
Linda - to answer your question. For those 34 lake area homes that did sell during the first quarter of this year - the average days on market was 330. That compares to average days on market of 212 during the same quarter last year. However, keep in mind that traditionally, even during our very strong years of 2003-2006, the average days on market for a house that sold in the Deep Creek Lake area was still between 180-270 days. This extra time it takes to sell a house so far this year is a combination of the market in general and many of our sellers still deciding to “hold out” and waiting to get near their asking price.