Lakes are up

State lake home values rise 26 percent the past year, market report says

Oklahoma, not too surprisingly, has no lake homes or property on any national top 10 list, not home markets, land markets or most expensive individual homes.

On the other hand, neither does it have any of the bottom 10 home listings by price.

Oklahoma does have a No. 2, under most affordable land per acre: Birch Lake, at Barnsdall, 30 miles northwest of Tulsa, where one listing for less than 10 acres is priced at $5,144 per acre.

At the state level, though, Grand Lake shines in statistics from Lake Homes Realty/ LakeHomes.com, a booming brokerage in Pelham, Alabama, that is amassing data on lake properties nationwide.

The numbers are from the winter 2018 quarterly report by the firm, which is licensed in 17 states, has membership in 79 multiple listing services, and landed last fall at No. 927 on Inc. Magazine’s list of top 5,000 fastestgrowing businesses in the United States.

Not having any overheated or stagnant lake markets puts Oklahoma in a good position for lake dwellers, secondhome buyers, as well as investors, said Brian Cauble, Lake Homes Realty director of market engagement and compiler of the report.

“Oklahoma lake real estate is one of the best investments across the entire U.S. In the last year, the overall (lake) market has increased in value by nearly 10 percent,” Cauble said. “Individually, the housing and land markets also saw increases, the most significant of which is the almost 26 percent increase in total land market value from January 2017.

“Beautiful lakes combined with some of the most affordable lake property in the temperate South and Southwest make Oklahoma a wonderful value.”

Nationally, high-end lake homes are overpriced, said Glenn S. Phillips, CEO of Lake Homes Realty, in his “CEO’s Market Insights” part of the 60-page report, which is available at tinyurl. com/LHRwinter2018.

Homes priced at $1 million or more still sell, but are not in high demand for a couple of reasons, he said.

“First,” he said, “many buyers who can afford such a high-end home learned during the past real estate bust that they may not be able to easily sell such a home in the future. They don’t want to trap their money.

“Second, we’ve shifted culturally. The ‘Age of Opulence’ has passed, and it is no longer as popular to own these types of high-end homes. This is leading high-end buyers to consider smaller and lowerpriced lake homes.”

A sampling of listings from Oklahoma’s three largest lake markets — Grand Lake, Lake Texoma and Lake Eufaula — included just one priced over $1 million, at Grand Lake for $2,799,000.

Here are some other Oklahoma lake market stats from the report.

Average home prices:

• 1. Grand Lake: $475,593.

• 2. Lake Texoma: $360,798.

• 3. Skiatook Lake: $346,381.

• 4. Claremore Lake: $287.804.

• 5. Lake Oologah: $274,120.

• 6. Lake Eufaula: $261,354.

• 7. Keystone Lake: $244,252.

• 8. Lake Hudson

(also known as Markham Ferry Reservoir): $240,564.

• 9. Lake Tenkiller: $232,018.

• 10. Fort Gibson Lake: $181,010.

Biggest markets by combined list prices for homes and land,

$485,442,081 total:

• 1. Grand Lake: $194,374,719.

• 2. Lake Texoma: $69,902,890.

• 3. Lake Eufaula: $67,795,199.

• 4. Skiatook Lake: $35,907, 290.

• 5. Lake Hudson

(also known as Markham Ferry Reservoir): $24,071,500.

• 6. Lake Tenkiller: $20,963,499.

• 7. Keystone Lake: $18,541,000.

• 8. Fort Gibson Lake: $18,440,498.

• 9. Lake Oologah: $16,621,200.

• 10. Claremore Lake:$12,052,440.

Biggest home markets,

$337,876,297 total:

• 1. Grand Lake: $154,572,170.

• 2. Lake Eufaula: $47,146,949.

• 3. Lake Texoma: $38,721,800.

• 4. Skiatook Lake: $19,576,690.

• 5. Lake Tenkiller: $15,558,800.

• 6. Lake Hudson (also known as Markham Ferry Reservoir): $13,907,600.

• 7. Keystone Lake: $12,119,000

• 8. Lake Oologah: $11,519,000.

• 9. Claremore Lake: $11,287,940.

• 10. Fort Gibson Lake:

$10,461,748.

Biggest land markets:

• 1. Grand Lake: $37,611,249.

• 2. Lake Texoma: $29,155,090.

• 3. Skiatook Lake: $15,207,600.

• 4. Lake Eufaula: $14,284,550.

• 5. Lake Hudson (also known as Markham Ferry Reservoir): $6,668,000.

• 6. Fort Gibson Lake: $5,959,750.

• 7. Keystone Lake: $5,827,721.

• 8. Lake Tenkiller: $4,816,199.

• 9. Lake Oologah: $4,283,300.

• 10. Claremore Lake: $690,000.

[PHOTOS PROVIDED BY LAKE HOMES REALTY] This Nantucket-inspired home on 2.5 acres at Grand Lake has a 4,200-square-foot main dwelling with three or four bedrooms, five baths, two living areas with wet bars, and a three-car garage. It is listed or $2,799,000 with Tiffany McKibben of McKibben...

The kitchen and living area is shown of an average-priced home at Grand Lake, listed for $490,000 with Tiffany McKibben of McKibben & Co. Realty, who is an agent with Lake Hones Realty.

This four-bedroom, two-bath home on Lake Texoma has a two-stall boathouse with Hydra-Hoist, steps from a huge back deck, and is listed for $735,000 with Jason Hightower, an agent with Lake Homes Realty.