2012 is off and running. Interest rates are holding at a fantastic rate and interest in Lake of the Ozarks homes is gaining strength every day. Prudential Lake Ozark Realty had a record year in 2011 with over 200 units sold. As you can see from the above numbers, sales were up by only 51 homes around the lake. What has happened is that those companies and agents that work full time, utilize the latest marketing and internet methods and understand the market, are increasing their market share while those that are part-time, throw up a sign and hope it sells agents are not seeing any results. It is the old Pareto principle at work, but instead of 20% of the agents doing 80% of the business, it is closer to 5% of the agents doing 95% of the business.If you compare the Absorption rate, the number of months of inventory supply on hand for a given price range, you will see that the inventories have dropped considerably. What does this mean to you? It means that sooner, not later, prices will rise due to demand.Looking at the List to Sell Ratio, it bounces around higher than 2009 to lower, then higher than 2010 then lower, but always in between 90 and 94%. The latest trend however is up for August through November. December was down primarily due to fewer sales caused by normal seasonality at the lake.

Waterfront Home Sales 2009-2011

The sale of waterfront homes is up 12% over 2010!!! The good news if you are a buyer is that prices are down $7,000 from last year on average. The good news if you are a seller is from August on, the trend was up in price every month!

Condo Sales 2009-2011

The good news here is there are 35% less units on the market. Sales numbers are identical to 2010 with 472 closed but with the lowered inventory, the Absorption Rates are not as scary as they were last year and the List to Sell Ratio remains between 93.39% and 96.18% the entire year. So if you are looking to sell, know your competition, price it right and you will not have to sell at half price!