Two and a half years ago, a three-bedroom waterfront home on the east side of Lake Coeur dAlene sold for $195,000, says Coeur dAlene real estate agent Richard Kohles.


Earlier this month, Kohles says, the same 1,400-square-foot housewith no substantial improvements madewas snatched up during its first day on the market for the full asking price of $650,000.


I dont think thats atypical, says Kohles, an agent with Coeur dAlene-based Coldwell Banker Schneidmiller Realty. In the past year, weve seen increases that waterfront people are astounded by.


John Beutler, owner of Coeur dAlene-based Century 21/John Beutler Associates and a specialist in waterfront property, sees things the same way.


Waterfront property certainly has hit new highs, Beutler says. I dont think anybody locally expected it.


Agents who specialize in the waterfront market say such property throughout the Inland Northwest has at least doubled in value over the past three years. That includes not just the three large, most popular North Idaho lakesLake Coeur dAlene, Lake Pend Oreille, and Priest Lakebut also bare land and small cabins on small or more remote lakes and rivers.


So far this year alone, the average price for a waterfront property sold through the Coeur dAlene Multiple Listing Service has increased by more than a third.


Through the first seven months of this year, 72 waterfront properties worth $40.9 million had sold through the Coeur dAlene MLS, for an average price of $568,100. Thats 35 percent higher than the $420,800 average price for such properties in the year-earlier period.


Those numbers dont include pre-sales of planned condominiums at The Terraces on Lake Coeur dAlene, an upscale, $130 million lakefront condo project that will be developed by Lake Coeur dAlene Development, a Hagadone Hospitality Co. affiliate.


Even prices between $4.4 million and $4.9 million, Lake Coeur dAlene Development already has accepted 10 percent down payments to reserve 20 of the 30 planned living units so far, says Mike DeLong, director of sales for The Terraces. He expects to sell the remaining 10 units by the end of the year.


Construction of the planned five-story building, which is to go up on the east side of the Coeur dAlene Resort Golf Course and will overlook the courses famous floating green, is set to begin in September, and living units are expected to be ready by mid-summer 2007.


Each unit will include at least 5,200 square feet of living space and another 1,000 square feet of terrace space and will come with a 36-foot boat slip and two permanent memberships to the resorts golf course.


He expects that the success of the high-end condo project will boost the values of other close-in lakefront properties.


Waterfront housing projects on Lake Pend Oreille also are proving to be popular.


Sandpoint developer Ralph Sletagers company, Waterfront Property Development, received approval earlier this year to move forward with a 500-home residential community called Dover Bay, in Dover, Idaho, on Lake Pend Oreille just west of Sandpoint. About half of those homes will be waterfront condominium units. Of the 250-some single-family homes planned there, roughly 150 will front on the lake or a nearby creek that leads to the lake.


The company expects to sell 100 living units in its first year of sales, and as of earlier this year, had sold 20 single-family home lots, Sletager says. Also, he says, it plans to apply for a building permit for the first condominium building later this month.


Condominium units there will start at $370,000 and could go up into the millions of dollars, depending on what buyers want, Sletager says.


We have the ability to make some incredibly big penthouses, he says.


For single-family homes, waterfront lots will range in price from $200,000 to $2 million, Sletager says. The low-end of the waterfront homes there likely will be valued at between $400,000 and $500,000, he says.


Tampa, Fla.-based United Landmark Associates, meanwhile, recently started a third phase of development at its Seasons at Sandpoint development, on Lake Pend Oreille in downtown Sandpoint. The company said last month that half of that projects condos, which are priced at between $500,000 to $1 million, already are sold.


National audience


Bill Fanning, the broker at Spokane-based Tomlinson Black Waterfront Inc., says upscale projects like The Terraces and Black Rock, Coeur dAlene developer Marshall Chesrowns upscale golf community overlooking Rockford Bay on Lake Coeur dAlene, have drawn attention to North Idahos lakes from people across the country. That, Fanning says, brings increased competitionand higher pricesfor waterfront property.


Sletager says that most of those buyers are shopping for properties at popular destinations around the western U.S., such at Lake Tahoe, on the Nevada-California border, and Flathead Lake, in Montana.


Its almost a West Coast circuit they go on, he says. Something that looks high priced to us doesnt look high priced to them.


During the recent upward trend in the market, Fanning says, about 80 percent of the waterfront buyers are from outside of the Inland Northwest, and 20 percent are from Eastern Washington and North Idaho. As little as three years ago, those percentages were reversed, he says.


Because of the increased competition, Fanning says, The local buyer is all but pushed out of the market on the bigger three lakesCoeur dAlene, Pend Oreille, and Priest.


In the active listings with Coeur dAlene MLS earlier this month, Kohles says, the lowest priced property on Lake Coeur dAlene was priced at $449,000. The highest was $3.2 million.


Such lofty prices at the big lakes are sending more prospective Inland Northwest waterfront buyers to properties on small lakes and rivers that arent as well known or as highly sought, Fanning says.


Consequently, he says, properties have been selling more briskly than usual around small Eastern Washington lakes, such as Loon, Deer, and Waitts; North Idaho lakes, such as Cocollala and Rose; and rivers like the St. Joe in North Idaho and Pend Oreille in northeastern Washington.


With the increased valuations, a buyer typically will be hard pressed to find vacant waterfront land in the Inland Northwest for less than $50,000 or a waterfront home for under $100,000.


Still, at those price points, many who are interested in waterfront property can find something they can afford, Fanning says.


Thats the beauty of this area, he says. We have so much waterfront.