2019's Most Expensive Home Sales In Lake Forest, Lake Bluff

LAKE FOREST-LAKE BLUFF, IL — Nearly 400 homes were sold for more than $332 million in Lake Forest and Lake Bluff in 2019, according to data from local realtors.

The most expensive home to sell last year in either town was built in 2006 on a 1.6-acre lot on the west side of Lake Road in Lake Forest.

First listed in November 2017 with an asking price of $4.75 million, the six-bedroom, 7,800-square-foot brick home was sold for $3.85 million in June 2019.

It includes an west-facing outdoor pool, hot tub room, wine cellar, elevator, home theater, walnut-paneled library, radiant heating and nine fireplaces, according to its listing.

For Lake Forest homes overall, the median sale price in December 2019 was just under $700,000, and the median list price was $775,000, according to Realtor.com data. A year earlier, the median list price was almost $800,000 but the median sale price was $555,000. Homes sell for an average of about 8 percent below their asking price.

For the year overall, the median 2019 Lake Forest sales price was $760,000 — down more than 10 percent from 2018, according to data provided by the North Shore Barrington Association of Realtors.

The amount of time homes spent on the market also declined, falling from 207 to 184.

In 2019, the closing prices of the most expensive home sales in four other North Shore communities — Glencoe, Highland Park, Northfield and Winnetka — exceeded Lake Forest's.

In Lake Bluff, the most expensive of the 123 home sales recorded last year was a new construction home completed in 2018 in Lansdowne Lane.

Located on 1.84 acres a block from the lake just north of Lake Forest, the five-bedroom home includes more than 9,200 square feet of combined livable area, according to its listing.

Below its heated garage, there's a sports court with 18-foot ceilings, a wet bar, exercise room and entertainment area, as well as a additional bedroom and bathroom.

The property sold as empty land in December 2013 for $850,000 and again in February 2016 for $778,000, according to Realtor.com.

The newly built house was first listed in January 2018 with an asking price just shy of $3.6 million. After a few price cuts, it was sold in July 2019 for $2.5 million.

In Lake Bluff overall, the median list price in December 2019 was $439,000 and the median sale price was $325,000. That's a decline from a year earlier, when the median list price was $492,500 and the median sale was $392,500, according to data from Realtor.com, which considers both Lake Bluff and Lake Forest to be buyer's markets.

For the year, the medial sales price fell from $543,750 in 2018 to $469,000 in 2019, a decline of nearly 14 percent. The average home also stayed on the market for an average of three weeks longer.

Sales data provided by the North Shore Barrington Association of Realtors, listing data courtesy Realtor.com, see more recently sold homes in Lake Forest and Lake Bluff.