Looking to buy a luxury home? Well, the place to be is Lake Minnetonka. Just because it is winter doesn’t mean you can’t go out there and see the beauty of a frozen lake. Who knows, you might even want to put in some ice fishing time or check out a pond hockey game between showings. Here’s the real estate numbers for the month of November:

1 Million – 2 Million : Compared to the rest of the year’s activity, the brakes were put on this month and new listings were put to a halt. There are currently only 131 homes actively for sale, the same amount as back in April. Six homes have gone pending this month and five homes closed, making the pending and closing stats some of the best this year.

2 Million – 3 Million : Never the price bracket with outstanding results, there are currently 36 active listings, with two homes pending. Only one home sold this month.

3 Million – 5 Million : It’s winter and more high-end luxury homes are going on the market. Needless to say but the luxury market is not effected by the downturn like everything else. This month there was an increase of eight more listings bringing the grand total to 24. Unfortunately no homes have gone pending, but one did sell.

5 Million + : The uber-bracket of Minnetonka real estate currently has 9 mega listings (just like last month). Obviously this bracket takes a very special buyer with some change hanging around.

Last month I mentioned there was a buyer closing on a home listed at $6.9 Million. Actually, the homes original list price was $ 8 Million, but the price has been dropping along with the market. I was surprised when I saw the final sales price come in at $5.4 Million. That’s a 22% price drop from the current list price, but a whopping 33% decrease from the original asking price of $8 Million! I have to say that is one mighty lucky buyer. Most sellers wouldn’t even negotiate that low, but when you have been on the market for 224 days, it’s probably a good idea to not dismiss any offers that might trickle in.