The strong activity and enthusiastic interest in Lake Vermilion waterfront property was made obvious as the 2021 calendar year progressed. The number of monthly closed transactions were at record levels from January through December (as noted on the updated chart below).
Here are the numbers:
The 2021 Lake Vermilion market logged a total of 109 sales (that’s +8 from 2020 which was also a record breaking year). The total dollar amount sold was $42,226,808 (+$4,847,258 from 2020) with an average sale amount of $387,401 (+$17,307 from 2020). (These numbers include sales for all property types… homes, cabins, year round, seasonal, vacant lots, road access, water access, and a couple of riverfront properties.)
I would suggest that 2021 could have produced additional sales if not for the constraint of low inventory. There were not enough properties for sale to meet the level of buyer interest.
It is curious, however, that in a market reasonably described as “seller oriented” (where sellers found excellent buyer interest and reduced time to sell) most of the completed sales were negotiated below the asking price. In fact, 75% of the 2021 Lake Vermilion sales were below the advertised asking price. 15% of the completed sales were at the asking price and 10% were above the asking price.
2022 should see continued strong buyer interest. However, as noted above, lower than typical inventory could dampen the potential for third straight record year. Also, if this combination persists, it would reasonable to expect 1) a market that favors the seller and 2) upward pressure on market values.
At this writing, to date in 2022, there are 5 completed and pending sales. That compares to 9 sales at this time in 2021.
Stay tuned. Stay safe. See you on the lake.
(As with all previous graphs, the grey lines show prior years and the red line represents 2021 data.)
(As always, the grey lines show previous years and the red line represents 2021 data.)(All data was sourced from the Range Multiple Listing Service.)
Bill Tibbetts
Associate Broker 
