The pandemic has spurred people all over the world to seek out a bit of hope in new places. For some, that translated into putting up outdoor Christmas lights through dark days of lockdowns in March 2020. For others, that’s meant seeking out the spirit of Christmas in places where it lives on the whole year through, like in Santa Claus, Indiana.
Real estate has been thriving in Santa Claus over the course of the pandemic, according to a recent report from The New York Times. The small, Christmas-themed town, with street names like Silver Bell Circle and Donder Lane — not to mention three lakes named Holly, Noel and Christmas — spreads Christmas vibes year-round.
Kara Hinshaw | Key Associates Signature Realty
“Things are flying off the market pretty quickly, and we’re pre-selling houses left and right,” Kara Hinshaw, managing broker of Key Associates Signature Realty, told Inman.
The town’s gated community of Christmas Lake Village (where about 90 percent of the town’s residents live) had 50 new homes go up in the last two years, a surge from the community’s typical two to three new homes per year, Hinshaw said. Likewise, The Times reported, the community of Christmas Lake Village might have 20 to 30 houses for sale at any given time, but as of mid-November, there were only five homes listed due to the recent spike in demand.
Christmas cheer isn’t the only thing driving real estate in the town, however. The area’s low taxes, ample services, good schools and relatively low home prices are also a big draw.
The median sales price of a home in Spencer County, where Santa Claus is located, was $198,500 as of November 2021, according to the Southwest Indiana Association of Realtors. Granted, that price is up 7.6 percent year over year, but is still significantly lower than the national median of $359,750 (as of Redfin data from the four-week period ending December 12).
“With COVID changing everything, as well as things that are happening in the…