Lake Geneva and The Southern Lakes Lakefront 2020-2026 Real Estate Study

By Kim and Joel Reyenga, eXp Realty | YourWiscoHome.com

Quick answer: 859 lakefront homes closed on the 26 lakes of the Lake Geneva and Southern Lakes Region between 2020 and 2026. The regional median rose from $790,000 to $1,161,000, a 47 percent move, while annual volume fell by more than half. A foot of Geneva Lake frontage runs about $57,894 against $13,710 on the Lauderdale chain and $9,980 on Lake Beulah, which is the entire argument for looking past the famous lake.

This study covers what lakefront has actually sold for on every lake with a real market, and how to compare them on the one unit that translates across water: a foot of shoreline.

What lakefront means, and what it is not

Lakefront means the parcel touches the water. You hold riparian rights, you can place a pier subject to permitting, and you carry the shoreline maintenance and the waterfront tax assessment.

This study counts single family homes only, using the MLS classification of waterfrontage on the lot. No condominium is counted as lakefront in this study, including units that are physically on the water, because condominium water rights sit with the association rather than the deed and the two products do not price alike.

Homes with a deeded or association right to water they do not own are a separate segment, covered in the lake association study.

The regional lakefront market, 2020 to 2026

Two things are happening at once, and they pull in opposite directions.

The median is up 47 percent since 2020. But annual closings fell from 189 to 100 by 2025, and 2026 is tracking at 72 through August. Fewer lakefront homes trade here every year than did 5 years ago, and the ones that do trade higher.

That is what a supply-constrained market looks like. Shoreline is the one thing nobody is making more of, and the owners who have it are moving less often. For month-to-month conditions rather than the 7-year view, see the latest market update. Trailing 12 months, the segment ran 120 sales at a $1,161,000 median, up 11.1 percent over the prior 12 months with volume up 20 percent, so the recent direction is firmer than the 2023 to 2025 plateau suggests.

Lakefront by lake

25 of the 26 lakes had enough closings to publish. Turtle Lake had 2 lakefront sales in 7 years, which is too thin to describe a market, so it is excluded rather than estimated.

A note on the Geneva Lake range. The $36,000,000 top sale is the endpoint of the range, not a description of the market. The median is the number to work from, and even that reflects a shoreline where the estate tradition runs deep.

Below roughly 20 closings in 7 years, a median describes a handful of houses rather than a market. Benedict, Lower Spring, Booth, Lorraine, Pleasant, Como, Lily, Rice, Wandawega and Honey all fall in that group. On those lakes we price from individual comparable sale review rather than from a lake median, because a single unusual property moves the number.

Price per foot of frontage

Median price tells you what houses cost. It does not tell you what the water costs, because a $3,000,000 house on 60 feet and a $900,000 cottage on 200 feet are not the same purchase.

A foot of shoreline is the one unit that compares across lakes.

This is computed from the MLS waterfront feet field, which agents enter by hand and which is not always precise. Read these as reliable rank order and approximate levels rather than as surveyed measurements.

What the frontage numbers actually say

Geneva Lake trades at roughly 3.3 times the next lake and 4.6 times Delavan. Nothing else in the region is close. Depth, clarity, size, the 21-mile Shore Path and 150 years of Chicago history all feed into it, and the result is a shoreline market that behaves like its own asset class, drawing buyers from across the Illinois line for 150 years.

The second tier is tighter than most buyers expect. Powers, Lake Mary, Lake Elizabeth, the Lauderdale chain, Potters, Como and Delavan all sit between $12,500 and $17,415 per foot. A buyer choosing among them is choosing on depth, size, boat traffic and drive time far more than on price.

Depth tracks price closely at the bottom. The 4 cheapest lakes by frontage foot are Lake Lorraine at 8 feet deep, North Lake at 11, Honey Lake at 6 and Lower Spring at 11. The 3 most expensive after Geneva are Powers at 33 feet, Lake Mary at 33 and Lake Elizabeth at 32. Clear deep water costs more per foot than shallow warm water, consistently, across every lake in the region.

Whitewater Lake is the outlier worth studying. At $8,800 per foot it prices below Beulah and Browns despite 625 acres, 35 feet of depth and a state forest around it. Buying more frontage there costs less than almost anywhere else with comparable water.

How to read a lakefront comparable

Within a single lake, frontage feet is the first variable but not the only one. What moves price on the same shoreline:

• Frontage width, which sets both privacy and pier capacity
• Exposure, meaning which way the lot faces and when it gets sun
• Bottom composition, sand against muck against rock, which decides whether people swim off it
• Elevation and grade, since a steep bank changes both the view and the walk to the water
• Pier rights and permitting, which are governed by the DNR and the municipality, not by the seller
• Setback and buildability, which on older shoreline lots is often the binding constraint

Two houses on the same lake with identical square footage can be 40 percent apart on these alone, and overstating any of them is how a listing outruns what it can document. A lake median is a starting point and never a valuation, which is why pricing a lakefront home starts with the shoreline rather than the square footage.

What this means if you own lakefront

Volume is thin and getting thinner, which cuts both ways. There are fewer competing listings when you sell. There are also fewer recent comparable sales, which raises appraisal risk on a unique property, and unique is the norm on shoreline. On a lake with 1 or 2 closings a year, an appraiser may be reaching across lakes or back several years to find support, which is how appraisal gaps open up on shoreline.

That makes documentation worth more here than in any other segment. Surveyed frontage, pier permits, shoreline improvements and any association rights should be assembled before the listing goes live rather than during attorney review. If the house is a second home used a dozen weekends a year, gather them on a trip up instead of under deadline.

Methodology

Data comes from a flexmls export covering full calendar years 2020 through 2026 year to date, as of August 21, 2026. 2,739 source rows were assigned to the 26 lakes of the region and deduplicated to 2,514 closed sales, with 16 cross-MLS duplicate closings removed. The trailing 12 month window runs August 22, 2025 through August 21, 2026.

Lakefront is defined as single family property with MLS waterfrontage on the lot: 859 closings. Condominium is excluded from this study entirely, including physically waterfront units.

Price per frontage foot is the sold price divided by the MLS waterfront feet figure, taken as the median of those ratios. 742 of the 859 sales carried a usable frontage figure, and each lake's count is shown.

No median is published for a lake with fewer than 3 closings. Turtle Lake is the only exclusion on that basis.

Medians describe the mix of properties that sold in a period. They are not a repeat-sales index and should not be read as the appreciation of any individual property.

Frequently asked questions

How much does a lakefront home cost on Geneva Lake?

Across 132 lakefront closings between 2020 and 2026, the Geneva Lake median was $3,990,000, with sales ranging from $354,900 to $36,000,000. The trailing 12 months ran 16 sales at a $7,197,500 median. Geneva Lake is the most expensive shoreline in the region by a wide margin.

What is lake frontage worth per foot near Lake Geneva?

Geneva Lake runs about $57,894 per foot of frontage. The second tier sits between $12,500 and $17,415, including Powers Lake, Lake Mary, Lake Elizabeth, the Lauderdale chain, Potters Lake, Lake Como and Delavan Lake. The shallow lakes run lowest, with Lake Lorraine, North Lake and Honey Lake all near $2,500.

Which lake near Lake Geneva offers the best value for lakefront?

It depends what you want from the water rather than which lake is cheapest. Whitewater Lake is the clearest value on paper at $8,800 per frontage foot for 625 acres and 35 feet of depth inside a state forest. Lake Beulah at $9,980 offers 812 acres and 58 feet of depth. Both trade well below the second tier on frontage cost.

How many lakefront homes sell each year in the region?

Volume has fallen steadily. 189 lakefront homes closed in 2020, dropping to 100 in 2025, with 72 closed through August of 2026. Over the same period the median rose 47 percent, from $790,000 to $1,161,000.

Are lakefront condominiums included in these numbers?

No. This study is single family only, using the MLS waterfrontage on lot classification. Condominium units are excluded even when physically on the water, because condominium water rights belong to the association rather than the individual deed and the two products do not price alike.

Why is a lake median not enough to price my lakefront home?

Because frontage width, exposure, bottom composition, elevation, pier rights and buildability can put two similar houses on the same lake 40 percent apart. On lakes with only a few closings a year, a median describes a handful of properties rather than a market, and pricing has to come from individual comparable sale review.

Find out what your shoreline is worth

Lakefront is the segment where a general market number helps least. Frontage, exposure, bottom and pier rights move value more than square footage does, and on a thin lake there may be no recent sale that resembles yours at all.

We have run every lakefront closing in the region back to 2020, lake by lake and by the foot. If you are selling, we will tell you what your shoreline supports and what documentation to assemble first. If you are buying, we will tell you what you are paying for the water as distinct from the house. Call Kim and Joel Reyenga at (262) 325-9867, or request a property valuation.

Start with the regional overview if you are still choosing a lake, compare against the lake association study if a slip matters more than a shoreline, or browse current lakefront listings. For the lakes themselves, our companion lifestyle site covers all 26.