For anyone who enjoys both the fast-paced city life as well as a peaceful lake environment, choosing to buy a house in an urban lake area may provide the perfect balance you’re seeking.
According to the Encyclopedia of Lakes and Reservoirs, an urban lake is defined as an inland body of water, which is larger than a pond surrounded by an urban environment. An urbanized area encompasses both the region’s city and surrounding areas, such as towns and suburbs.
To qualify as anurban area, a city and its neighboring parts should have a high population density (at least 50,000 people). In addition to providing an aesthetically pleasing balance of cityscapes and landscapes, urban lakes have several practical functions. They encourage biodiversity, assist in flood control, and provide a recreational spot for the city’s many residents.
Further, there are several personal advantages to living on an urban lake. There’s the apparent advantages — the opportunity to have that high-powered city job while also going boating, swimming, and fishing on the weekends.
But there’s also the lesser-known benefits of living by a “blue space.” For example, research suggests that living by water has a positive impact on physical and mental health. While scientists have yet to determine the reason behind this correlation, it certainly has implications for the benefits of urban lakes.
If you’re already sold on the possibility of living adjacent to both natural beauty and a concrete jungle, check out these five thriving urban lake areas in the U.S.
The “golden years” of retirement are often characterized by leisure activities like golfing, fishing and gardening; spending time with family, and enjoying the little things in life like sunsets and relaxing in a hammock.
Now think about what it would be like to live on a lake. All the same leisure activities come to mind, right? Lake homeowners enjoy all those activities along with natural beauty, boating and fishing, and special time with their children and grandchildren. Lake living and retirement go hand-in-hand.
LakeHomes.com covers more than 3,000 lakes across the country, ranging from small community lakes to the Great Lakes. Each lake has its own personality and lifestyle. Knowing where to start your search for the perfect retirement lake can be intimidating, so we created this guide to assist in the decision-making process.
Using the 2019 SmartAsset Best Places to Retire and cross-referencing our own Lake Real Estate Market Report, we devised the list criteria. To determine the winners of the 2019 Best Retirement Lake Award, the LakeHomes.com media team analyzed dozens of lake real estate markets across the United States. In order to be eligible for award consideration, markets had to have a minimum total market listing value of $10 million as of Feb. 1, 2019.
Welcome to our inaugural list of the Best Retirement Lakes in America!
Located within the town of Granbury, Texas, Lake Granbury is a 2019 Best Retirement Lake.
This Texas treasure is located less than an hour from the Dallas-Fort Worth metro, making the lake perfectly placed. It’s far enough away to escape the stressors of city life, but close enough for weekend adventuring. Lake Granbury is primarily known for its striped bass fishing, numerous house-boats and the award-winning Inn on Lake Granbury.
Nationally, the area surrounding Lake Granbury ranks 63rd among the country’s best overall places to retire in 2019 and offers residents a charming boutique shopping experience, a retro drive-in theater, and the historic Granbury Opera House, constructed in the late 1880s.
Lake Hickory covers more than 4,200 acres in Alexander, Burke, Caldwell, and Catawba counties in North Carolina.
A real retiree jewel, Lake Hickory’s namesake, the town of Hickory, was named among the Top 10 least expensive retirement towns in the U.S. and the Top 20 safest towns in America in 2018.
The lake and surrounding community offer residents a variety of golf courses along its more than 100 miles of shoreline. Boating and fishing are popular activities. There are numerous wineries and vineyards to frequent throughout the year for the wine enthusiast.
In the Lake Hickory area, there are multiple historical centers and more than a dozen parks and nature trails. The lake’s abundance of recreational opportunities, along with its convenient distance to Charlotte, Asheville, and Winston-Salem, makes Lake Hickory an ideal place for one’s golden years of retirement.
Lake Lanier is abuzz with tourists along its southern shores. The lake’s northern end offers residents a peaceful reprieve and a small-town environment along the rolling foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains.
This retirement lake features numerous Robert Trent Jones and Arnold Palmer-designed golf courses, day spas, southern-inspired cuisine, and an equestrian center at Lake Lanier Islands.
Lake Lanier’s natural attractions include picturesque waterfalls, hiking trails with a robust fishing and boating scene. There are 45 parks and recreation centers in the area around the lake, providing value for retirees regardless of where they are on the adventure and activities spectrum. Lake Lanier boasts a blissfully blended lake life lifestyle for retirees and their families.
Lake Lanier’s natural attractions include picturesque waterfalls, hiking trails, a healthy fishing and boating scene, and 45 parks and recreation centers.
With something for retirees on both ends of the adventure and activities spectrum, Lake Lanier boasts a blissfully blended lake life lifestyle.
As if painted into the alluring backdrop of the Appalachian Mountains, Lake Guntersville is recognized as one of the most scenic lakes in America and was recently recognized by Bassmaster magazine in the top 10 lakes on their list of 100 Best Bass Lakes.
This picturesque retirement paradise is located within the 6,000-acre Lake Guntersville State Park, home of the Eagle’s Nest Golf Course – an 18-hole premier course renovated and redesigned in collaboration with pro golfer Jerry Pate.
This Alabama lake offers nearly 40 miles of hiking trails, best-in-class fishing, sailing clubs and is part of the North Alabama Birding Trail.
Situated about 30 miles south of Huntsville, Lake Guntersville is the ideal place to enjoy modern conveniences alongside the relaxing qualities of retirement lake living.
Lake Keowee is known as one of the safest and cleanest lakes in the country, and as one of the best boating lakes in the Palmetto State.
The area surrounding this spectacular lake boasts moderate temperatures year-round. It’s an ideal climate for teeing-off at any one of the multiple Jack Nicklaus-designed golf courses located around Lake Keowee.
The lake also offers residents a quaint collection of antique and vintage shops, beautiful waterfalls and an abundance of lakeside casual dining restaurants.
This retirement gem is conveniently located less than 10 miles from the Clemson University campus and roughly an hour’s drive from Greenville, making Lake Keowee a quiet retirement haven hidden amongst the excitement of South Carolina’s “Golden Corner.”
Located in Tennessee, Tellico Lake is the epitome of a retirement paradise. It checks all the boxes for retirees regardless of what they are seeking.
In addition to its renowned retirement communities, Tellico Lake is also famous for its year-round activities like boating, fishing, and skiing in the summer, and hiking, golfing and fine dining in the off-season
The lake is conveniently located just minutes from the No. 1 retirement town in Tennessee, Loudoun, and is 45 minutes from Knoxville.
Tellico Lake’s proximity to urban centers and the lake’s active adult-friendly communities make it the perfect place to enjoy all the serenity and charm of lake living without being too far from modern conveniences.
The Lake of the Woods area is perfect for spending one’s golden years of retirement. The 2019 Best Retirement Lake designation goes to this community for its not one, but two lakes.
Spanning 2,600 acres, the lake of the Woods master-planned lake paradise offers residents exclusive access to its on-site equestrian center, 18-hole PGA golf course, tennis courts, and two outdoor pools.
The community also invites its retirees to enjoy lying on the beaches of Lake of the Woods’ 500-acre Main Lake. Here, residents can sunbathe, sail, fish or waterski. The lake is located roughly 20 miles from historic Fredericksburg.
Keaton Lake, the smaller of the community’s water bodies, is perfect for non-gas-powered boating activities like swimming, kayaking, and canoeing.
2019 Best Retirement Lake Award Methodology
Referencing the 2019 SmartAsset Best Places to Retire list for each state, eligible markets were cross-referenced using LakeHomes.com search features to identify those markets located within a 10-mile radius of any town/city named by Smart Asset’s Best list.
These towns were determined by SmartAsset using information about accessibility to healthcare facilities, and the portion of the population that were senior citizens (age was not specified according to Smart Asset’s methodology.) Additionally, each area’s cost of living and tax burden were taken into consideration.
Lake real estate markets determined to be located within a 10-mile radius* of the SmartAsset-named towns were then analyzed for how the average home price in each market compared to the state’s average home price for lake properties.
Proximity to the nearest metro, as named by Google Analytics, and the number of lake-focused retirement communities in each market were also deciding factors in choosing the 2019 Best Retirement Lake Award winners.
Each category was weighted differently, with the number of lake-focused retirement communities weighted more substantially, followed by proximity to the nearest major metro and average home price compared to the state’s average home price for lake properties.
2018 was quite a year for Lake Homes Realty! In the last 12 months, our corporate headquarters relocated to a larger, multi-tenant business complex; ranked on the Inc.5000 list of fastest growing, privately owned companies in America for a second consecutive year; and opened operations in six more states.
Across the nation, the year has been good to many lake real estate markets as well, including these five markets, which ranked among the largest lake real estate markets in the country in 2018.
From the beginning of 2018, No. 1 Lake Michigan’s overall market value (or the combined listing value of all the lake’s properties for sale) increased by nearly 35 percent, according to LakeHomes.com’s Fall Lake Market Report.
Individually, the lake’s home and land markets saw overall value increases of 45 percent and 9 percent, respectively. This rather wide margin between the two markets can be attributed to uneven increases in listings and average home price.
While land listings on Lake Michigan increased from 822 in January to 900 this fall, residential listings more than doubled, up from 673 to 1021.
This spike in homes for sale increased Lake Michigan’s total market by approximately $293 million over the year. This market also saw its average home price increase by about 10 percent to roughly $1 million.
As of fall 2018, the Lake Michigan real estate market is valued at more than $1.2 billion. Its home market currently boasts listings totaling nearly $957 million, while Lake Michigan land listings total about $267 million.
The second-largest lake real estate market featured in the Fall Report, Lake Norman has an overall market of roughly $795 million, up 24 percent since January 2018.
Lake Norman’s home market increased by more than 28 percent this year to $654 million.
This is likely due to an increase of 181 residential net listings since January; however this increase also resulted in a drop in average home price, which is down from $876,000 to $849,000.
The lake’s land market also grew by about 9 percent to $141 million, despite a slight drop (4 percent) in listings.
In total, Lake Norman currently has 1,225 listings along its 520 miles of shoreline.
Lake Lanier, ranked No. 3 among LakeHomes.com’s largest lake markets, reports a total inventory of 1,397 listings valued at roughly $650 million.
This market saw increases across the board in both number of listings and market value. Its average home price, however, remained virtually unchanged compared to winter 2018 data.
Most significantly, Lake Lanier’s home market rose more than 46 percent in listing value, up from $329 million in January to $482 million in the fall. Homes for sale increased as well, by nearly the same amount, 48 percent, from 591 to 872 listings.
Land listings increased from 459 to 498 this year, driving the market’s value up almost 10 percent to $139 million.
The Fall Market Report puts Lake Lanier’s average home price at $553,000.
At $616 million in lake real estate, Lake Travis is the No. 1 largest lake in the Lone Star State, and the fourth-largest featured in the Lake Market Report.
Since the beginning of 2018, this market has increased by more than 22 percent in overall market value and almost 30 percent in total inventory.
Much of this influx of net inventory is homes for sale, which almost doubled this year from 242 listings to 354. Because the home market increased by only about 23 percent, Report data indicates the average home price on Lake Travis dropped 12 percent.
Currently, this average home price is $1.4 million, the third-highest in the state.
The Lake Travis land market value increased by 18 percent over the same period, with listings increasing by about 14 percent.
Rounding out our list of the Top 5 biggest lake real estate markets of 2018 is Georgia’s Lake Oconee.
Its 1,207 total listings combine for a total market of $496 million, up 14 percent from $434 million at the beginning of the year.
The lake’s land market increased slightly to $147 million from $141 million in January. Land listings decreased by only one property compared to winter data.
Approximately 18 percent more residential properties are on the market at the end of 2018 than were for sale at the beginning of the year.
Currently these residential listings combine for a total lake home market value of $328 million.
Lake Lanier’s average home price only increased by about 2 percent.
About the Lake Market Report
Each quarter, LakeHomes.com publishes an in-depth Lake Market Report, that analyzes real estate data pulled from the approximately 100 MLSs of which they are members, to feature the Top 10 lake real estate markets across 16 states in the Central and Eastern U.S.
The 2018 Fall Lake Market Report reflects values of current listings across each lake’s home, land and commercial markets as of Sept. 1, 2018, at which time Report data was pulled.
These figures – market value, average home price, etc. – represent only those properties currently on the market.
According to Lake Market Report Methodology, lake property is defined as “any home or land/lot listing adjacent to a recognized inland body of water, has a view of any of these lakes, has designated access to a lake, or is within a community that considers itself a lake-focused community or development.”
For more information about your local market please download your free copy of the Lake Market Report here!
