Such deals come at a time when higher mortgage rates and record prices are having a noticeable impact on homebuyers who are far from entertaining what many consider an elective purchase. Those buyers are just trying to find one home to shelter their families.
Last month, the median price of all sales in the metro rose only 2.6% to $395,000, according to new data from the St. Paul Area Association of Realtors. That gain comes as home sales are slowing. Statewide, signed purchase agreements for all property types, including those not on lakeshore, increased only 1.7% statewide and 0.5% in the metro during May.
Sellers have been fetching much higher price gains in parts of the state where lakeshore dominates, agents said. In the Park Rapids area, for example, buyers are snapping up priced-right lake homes within just a day or two of hitting the market.
“The market has really gotten hot,” said Kristine Walsh, a Dane Arthur sales agent who specializes in lakeside properties in that area. “People aren’t spending money in a crazy way like they did in 2021. But they aren’t afraid.”
She added as of April 1, she’s sold as much lakeshore this year as she did during all of 2024. She said if a property hasn’t had a lot of showings or sold within a couple weeks of hitting the market, it’s probably overpriced.
“There are some exceptions where people are getting way over market value,” she said. “But if things are priced appropriately, they go with relative ease. If they’re priced under, they will be gone be in a day.”