There Are 55 Homes for Sale in All of Leelanau County. Here's What That Means for Spring Buyers.
I had a buyer call me last week — a couple from Chicago who'd been casually browsing Zillow for months, watching a handful of Leelanau properties drift in and out of their saved searches. They'd been patient, strategic, waiting for spring to bring more options. When they told me their price range and the towns they were interested in, I had to level with them: there were fewer than a dozen homes that genuinely matched what they were looking for available in the entire county. Not in one neighborhood. Not along one stretch of road. In the entire county.
That's the reality of Leelanau County real estate heading into spring 2026.
According to the most recent data, there are currently just 55 homes for sale countywide — translating to roughly a two-month supply of inventory. A balanced market sits at five to six months of supply. To put it in physical terms: if you drove M-22 north from Suttons Bay all the way to Northport, then looped back through Leland and Cedar and every winding township road in between, you'd encounter maybe 55 for-sale signs in the ground. That's the entire market.
If you're planning to buy in Leelanau this year and you're waiting for things to "open up" in spring, this post is for you.
What "Low Inventory" Actually Feels Like From the Ground
I know "low inventory" has become a phrase that gets recycled so often it's lost its meaning. So let me describe what it actually looks like when I'm out working with buyers.
A couple years ago, showing homes in Suttons Bay or out toward Lake Leelanau meant having enough options to be genuinely selective. Buyers could tour three or four comparable properties, take a day to think, come back for a second look. That experience has mostly gone away. When a reasonably priced, well-maintained home hits the market in Leelanau right now, I'm scheduling showings the same day the listing goes live — sometimes before the professional photography is even done.
The days-on-market numbers can mislead people here. Homes that sat for 100-plus days in 2025 generally had a reason for it — an overasked price, deferred maintenance, a road-sharing situation that was complicated, a well that needed attention. The right homes, priced with honesty and in solid shape? Those still moved with urgency. The county-wide average can mask how fast the good stuff goes when it does appear.
I walked a property out toward Cedar last fall with a buyer who kept saying, "Let's think about it over the weekend." By Monday morning it was under contract. That story is not unusual right now. It's the rule.
The Number That Surprised Me Most in the 2025 Data
While most people were focused on price movements, the headline I kept coming back to in the year-end numbers was this: total residential sales volume in Leelanau County jumped 15.83% in 2025, reaching $326 million. More transactions, in a market with fewer available homes. The median sale price landed at $680,000 for the year, and by January 2026 it was already sitting at $715,000 — a 10% year-over-year gain in a single month's data.
More deals closing in a tighter market means the homes that are available are getting absorbed quickly. There isn't a pile of unsold inventory building up. When something worth buying surfaces, buyers are there to act on it. That's not a sign of a cooling market — it's a sign of compressed, competitive demand chasing limited supply.
For context, Grand Traverse County saw a different dynamic: average sale prices there actually dipped about 1.6% in 2025, while volume grew 7.5%. Leelanau held its price premium and then some. That gap between the two counties — Leelanau median at $715K versus Grand Traverse median around $405K — reflects a structural reality about what this peninsula represents to buyers who want it specifically.
The Strategy Half of Last Year's Buyers Were Already Using
Here's something that genuinely caught my attention in the 2025 buyer data: nearly half of all Leelanau County buyers purchased non-waterfront homes. In a county built culturally around the water — the way the bay catches the light at dusk off M-22, the cherry orchards running right to the shoreline, the fact that most people's mental image of Leelanau involves some body of water — you'd expect waterfront to dominate sales. It doesn't.
What I see on the ground is that a growing share of buyers are finding genuine value in the non-waterfront pocket. You can purchase in Suttons Bay Township or out toward Cedar at price points that simply don't exist on the water. The Leelanau lifestyle — the wineries, the light, the pace of things, the way the peninsula smells in May during cherry blossom season — that doesn't require a private beach. It's available a quarter mile back from the water too.
I showed a property late last fall that sat maybe a quarter mile off West Grand Traverse Bay. You couldn't see the water from the house. But the lot was beautiful, the structure was solid, and it was priced $280,000 below the nearest water-adjacent comp. My buyers thought seriously about it. In a market where the best waterfront homes hover between $800K and well over a million, that spread deserves a real conversation — not a reflexive "but it's not on the water."
Janel has been saying this for years: in Leelanau County, you're not just buying a property. You're buying into a place. The water is five minutes away no matter where you are on this peninsula.
Why This Spring Window Is Narrower Than You Think
A few things are converging right now that buyers need to understand.
National mortgage rates are still sitting in the mid-to-upper 6% range, which is keeping a lot of potential sellers locked in place. People who refinanced at 2.8% or 3.1% a few years ago aren't eager to take on a 6.5% loan on their next home — not unless they have to. That's one of the primary reasons inventory in Leelanau County hasn't recovered despite strong demand. It's not that people don't want to sell. It's that the math of trading their current mortgage for a new one doesn't pencil out for a lot of homeowners right now.
But life events don't wait for interest rates. Retirements happen. Families downsize. Estates settle. Divorce, job changes, health situations — these create inventory even when the market doesn't cooperate. We're starting to see some of that trickle onto the market as spring approaches, and that's exactly the window buyers should be positioning for.
The Northern Michigan spring buying season is genuinely compressed. It runs roughly from late March through the end of June. After that, seasonal traffic picks up, sellers who didn't move their properties start taking them off the market to try again next year, and the rhythm changes. The buyers who get the best properties in the spring window are the ones who are already prepared — financing in order, clear on their criteria, and working with someone who knows when listings are coming before they hit Zillow.
If you want a deeper look at what the short-term rental picture looks like in Leelanau and Northern Michigan for buyers considering investment properties, our 2026 Northern Michigan STR Guide covers the regulatory landscape and ROI considerations across the county.
Who This Market Is Right For — and Who Should Recalibrate
If you're holding out for a turnkey waterfront property at a 2019 price, this market isn't going to deliver that. The waterfront premium in Leelanau has held firm through every rate cycle, every market correction, and every slow winter. With only 55 homes available countywide, there is simply no negotiation cushion on properties that genuinely check the waterfront box in a desirable township.
If you're open to a broader definition of what Leelanau County living looks like — a well-built home in a village setting, a wooded lot off a gravel road with a name you'd never find on a tourist map, a place that needs a little love but sits in a location that doesn't come up often — there are real opportunities right now. Properties that will hold their value, in a county that has consistently outperformed broader Michigan real estate trends for over two decades.
The buyers I've seen succeed in this market aren't necessarily the ones with the biggest budgets. They're the ones with flexibility on style, clarity on location priorities, and the ability to move quickly when the right thing surfaces. That combination matters more in a 55-home market than a perfect wishlist does.
Take a look at our current listings to see what we're working with right now, and read some of the experiences our clients have had navigating markets exactly like this one over at our testimonials page.
If you're seriously thinking about buying in Leelanau County in 2026, reach out now. I'd much rather have a real conversation in March than have you call in late June, wondering why the three properties you'd bookmarked are already closed.
Taylor Brown, Realtor
Real Estate One — Traverse City
Taylor@taylorbrownrealtor.com | (231) 360-1510
@listwiththebrowns on Instagram
