What Are the Busiest Months for Home Sales on Madeline Island?
[Sales statistics supplied by Madeline Island Realty. Graphic prepared by Marquette Research LLC, Lakeville, MN.]
The above graph shows average residential dwelling sales by month for Madeline Island (LaPointe, Wisconsin, 54850 zip code). Data used was from calendar years 2012 through 2014 and includes only closed sales of residential properties by Madeline Island Realty. No vacant land sales or sales of commercial properties are included in this data.
As you can see from the graph, on average, half of our annual dwelling sales typically occur during the last four months of the calendar year. To be even more precise, that 50% of annual home sales takes place between Mid-September and mid-December. We attribute this late-season sales activity to several factors, including weather, the availability of car ferry service between Bayfield, Wisconsin and Madeline Island, and the seasonal nature of tourism in the Apostle Islands of Lake Superior.
Although winter weather begins to appear by early or mid-December, the Madeline Island Ferry line usually suspends operations near the end of December or in early January. Tourist traffic often continues beyond Thanksgiving, extending into mid-December. Serious buyers often continue to visit the Island late in the year and offers in late November and early December are commonplace.
In January, February and March, there is usually no car ferry service, which discourages most prospective buyers from traveling to the Island at that time for property showings. By mid-April, ferry service has resumed and our showing traffic gradually begins to pick up again.
May and June are the months when the owners of Madeline Island summer homes return to the Island, opening up their lake homes and cabins and undertaking spring cleaning and yard work. "High season" dwelling rentals resume around Memorial Day and by mid-June they have increased to a level that is more typical of summer.
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