Quick take: Over the last 12 months (September 2025–August 2026), lakefront homes around Big Bear Lake sold for a median $1.81 million, up 15% from the year before. Fewer homes sold (19, down from 28), and they took longer to sell — a median of 111 days. With about 7 months of homes for sale, the lakefront market currently leans toward buyers.
This report covers single-family homes and condos in the lakefront areas of Big Bear Lake Central, Big Bear Lake West, Big Bear Lake East, and Fawnskin.
Yes — both the median sale price and the price per square foot rose over the last 12 months. When those two move together, it's a better sign that values actually rose, not just that bigger homes happened to sell. Still, a word of caution: only 19 lakefront homes sold in that window. With that few sales, one or two large homes can move the median a lot, so treat the 15% as a direction rather than a precise figure.
Slower than last year. The typical lakefront home took 111 days to sell, up from 88 the year before. Sellers are also accepting a bit less off their asking price — homes sold for about 92% of asking, compared with about 95% a year earlier.
It leans toward buyers. There are 11 lakefront homes for sale, and over the past year about 1.6 homes sold per month. At that pace, it would take about 6.9 months to sell everything currently listed. Under 3 months usually favors sellers, 3 to 6 is balanced, and over 6 favors buyers.
About 3 out of every 10. Of the 28 lakefront listings that left the market in the last 12 months, 9 were cancelled or expired without a sale. That's roughly the same rate as the year before.
Lakefront sales have cooled a lot since 2020, when 64 homes sold. The count fell every year after — 39, 31, 26 — reaching 19 in 2024 before bouncing back to 28 in 2025. Prices held up through that slowdown: the median sale rose from about $1.5 million in 2020 to about $1.815 million in 2025.
Looking at every lakefront sale from 2020 through 2026, homes that sold within their first 30 days got a median of 100% of their asking price (26 sales). Homes that sat on the market six months or longer sold for a median of 95% of asking (49 sales). On a typical $1.8 million lakefront home, that difference is about $100,000. The pattern held across multiple years, not just one season.
Buyers: You have more choice and more time than in recent years, and homes that have been listed a while often leave room to negotiate. Fresh, well-priced listings are the exception — those still tend to sell close to asking.
Sellers: The first month is when lakefront homes have gotten their best prices. Pricing correctly from day one matters more than waiting to see what happens.
Homeowners staying put: Prices have held up even as sales slowed. If current trends continue, the lakefront market may stay slower-paced, but that hasn't meant falling values so far.
Is now a good time to sell in Lakefront Big Bear?
It can be, if the home is priced right from the start. Lakefront homes that sold in their first 30 days got full asking price, while homes that sat 6+ months sold for about 5% under. With about 7 months of homes on the market, pricing matters more than timing.
What are homes selling for in Lakefront Big Bear?
The median lakefront sale over the last 12 months was $1,805,000, or about $643 per square foot. Only 19 homes sold in that time, so individual prices vary widely.
Written by Rachael Smith, Real Estate Broker Associate, RE/MAX Big Bear · DRE #01923537 · 909-744-2190
Source: MRCAOR data, Jan 2020–Aug 2026. Deemed reliable but not guaranteed.
