Private Communities – It’s All About the View

A study conducted for the Appraisal Institute to be published in the spring issue of The Appraisal Journal, investigated the pricing and the related premiums associated with homesite views in recreationally oriented private communities.  “The Million Dollar View” by David Wyman and Stephen Sperry reiterates what most of us have always known – water is liquid gold. The study focused on approximately 600 lots sold between January 2000 and December 2008 at The Reserve at Lake Keowee, a 3,900-acre private golf community with a Jack Nicklaus golf course and located on an 18,500-acre lake in South Carolina’s upstate. The bottom line:  lake front lots beat out lake view lots, which beat out golf course lots. The pricing premiums ranged from 124% to 287% for lakefront lots; from 94% to 133% for lake view lots; and from 42% to 85% for lots with golf course views.  The study also points out that even after the housing bubble burst, lakefront lots continued to sell — and at increasing prices.

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