Gun Lake
By Luke Bouman | Luke Bouman Real Estate Team | Updated August 29, 2026
Gun Lake is one of Southwest Michigan's most distinctive inland lake markets — a 2,680-acre all-sports lake shaped like a butterfly, with 17.8 miles of shoreline, depths reaching 68 feet in the east basin, and the 5,200-acre Yankee Springs State Recreation Area wrapping its northeastern shore. Located approximately 27 miles southeast of Grand Rapids and 31 miles northeast of Kalamazoo, Gun Lake sits at a convenient midpoint that makes it accessible from multiple major employment centers while maintaining a genuine lake-country character that draws both seasonal and year-round buyers.
Gun Lake Real Estate Market — 2026
| Metric | Details |
|---|---|
| Lake size | 2,680 acres (Michigan DNR), one of Southwest Michigan's largest all-sports lakes |
| Shoreline | 17.8 miles, plus 1.4 miles of island shoreline (Michigan DNR) |
| Water depth | Up to 68 feet in the east basin. The west basin is almost uniformly shallow at about 5 feet, apart from Robbin's Bay at 34 feet and Pickerel Cove at 25 feet (Michigan DNR) |
| Price range | $179,900 to $1,800,000 asking across 23 active waterfront listings (August 2026, MichRIC MLS) |
| Active listings | 23 active waterfront listings, about 8.4 months of supply (August 2026, MichRIC MLS) |
| Primary county | Barry County (SW tip in Allegan County) |
| Distance to Grand Rapids | ~27 miles / ~35-40 min via US-131 South |
| Distance to Kalamazoo | ~31 miles northeast |
What Makes Gun Lake Distinctive
The butterfly shape. Gun Lake's two roughly symmetrical halves — connected through a channel — create a lake geography unlike most Michigan inland lakes. From above, the lake looks like butterfly wings. From water level, each half of the lake has its own character and cove system. This distinctive shape creates more linear shoreline per acre than most lakes its size, meaning more waterfront properties relative to lake volume.
Yankee Springs Recreation Area. The 5,200-acre Yankee Springs State Recreation Area wraps the northeastern lake shore — providing hiking, mountain biking, horseback riding, and snowmobile trails that give Gun Lake a four-season activity profile beyond just summer water sports. The Yankee Springs campground, two state-maintained beaches, and a boat launch make the public side of the lake an amenity for all Gun Lake property owners.
The 4th of July. Gun Lake's annual 4th of July fireworks draw over 850 boats on the water simultaneously — one of Michigan's most celebrated lake gatherings. For buyers who value community character in their lake purchase, Gun Lake's 4th of July tradition is the defining example of what an active lake community looks like.
Bay Pointe/Terrace Grille. Dock-side dining at Bay Pointe with live music every Wednesday evening all summer — the kind of amenity that makes a lake lifestyle genuinely different from living near a lake without being on it.
Gun Lake Real Estate
- All Listings
- $100,000 - $200,000
- $200,000 - $300,000
- $300,000 - $400,000
- $400,000 - $500,000
- $500,000 - $600,000
- $600,000 - $700,000
- $700,000 - $800,000
- $800,000 - $900,000
- $900,000 - $1,000,000
- Over $1,000,000
What You Pay on Gun Lake in 2026
Gun Lake waterfront pricing reflects a market where demand is consistent and supply is structurally limited. With approximately 17.8 miles of shoreline and most of it already developed, new waterfront inventory is almost exclusively through resale — there is very little undeveloped lake frontage left. This supply constraint, combined with consistent demand from Grand Rapids and Kalamazoo metro buyers, keeps Gun Lake pricing firm.
Entry level waterfront on Gun Lake currently starts around $180,000. The middle of the market sits near $700,000, which is both the median asking price across the 23 active listings and close to the $670,000 median sale over the last twelve months. Premium frontage runs to $1,800,000 asking, and the highest sale in the last twelve months closed at $1,400,000 (August 2026, MichRIC MLS).
Ten Years of Gun Lake Waterfront Sales
Data as of August 28, 2026, source MichRIC MLS. Covers 418 sales of residential properties with frontage on Gun Lake, in Wayland, Shelbyville and Middleville, from August 2016 forward. The three eras below use complete calendar years only.
Gun Lake waterfront is not a soft market. It is a normal one, and normal only feels soft because 2021 was not.
We pulled every Gun Lake waterfront sale going back to 2016, 418 transactions in all, and the ten year record answers a question a single year cannot. In 2017 through 2019, before the pandemic, 22% of Gun Lake waterfront homes sold at or above their asking price, and the typical seller closed at 94.8% of their original price. Over the last twelve months those figures are 24% and 95.5%. Today's negotiating dynamic is not just similar to the pre-pandemic market, it is fractionally better for sellers. What has changed is the price. The pre-pandemic median was $307,000. Over the last twelve months it was $670,000, an increase of 118%.
Three Eras
| Period | Waterfront sales | Median sold price | Sold at or above asking | Median sold vs original asking |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2017 to 2019, before the pandemic | 126 | $307,000 | 28 of 126, or 22% | 94.8% |
| 2020 to 2023, the boom | 188 | $433,000 | 84 of 188, or 45% | 97.9% |
| 2024 to 2025 | 75 | $537,000 | 18 of 75, or 24% | 94.6% |
| Last 12 months | 33 | $670,000 | 8 of 33, or 24% | 95.5% |
The Same Record, Year by Year
| Year | Waterfront sales | Median sold price | Sold at or above asking | Median sold vs original asking |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 (from late August) | 10 | $340,000 | 1 of 10 | 94.5% |
| 2017 | 41 | $278,000 | 8 of 41 | 94.7% |
| 2018 | 39 | $310,000 | 11 of 39 | 94.1% |
| 2019 | 46 | $321,450 | 9 of 46 | 94.8% |
| 2020 | 74 | $372,500 | 24 of 74 | 96.5% |
| 2021 | 49 | $425,000 | 28 of 49 | 100.0% |
| 2022 | 32 | $462,450 | 15 of 32 | 98.0% |
| 2023 | 33 | $625,000 | 17 of 33 | 98.0% |
| 2024 | 30 | $642,586 | 4 of 30 | 91.6% |
| 2025 | 45 | $530,000 | 14 of 45 | 95.6% |
| 2026 (through August) | 19 | $717,500 | 4 of 19 | 95.6% |
Read the right hand columns, not the median
Whether a home sold at or above its asking price does not depend on which houses happened to sell that year, so those columns describe the market itself. The median does depend on the mix. At thirty to fifty sales a year, one unusual stretch of shoreline changing hands moves it noticeably, which is why 2025 reads lower than 2024 without values having fallen seventeen percent.
2020 through 2023 was the anomaly, not the baseline
In 2021, 28 of 49 sellers got asking price or better and the typical home sold for exactly what it was first listed at. Nothing in the seven years before that came close. Comparing today to 2021 and concluding the market has weakened is comparing today to the most seller-favorable year in a decade.
2024 was a genuine overcorrection, and it is over
2024 is the only year in the record where sellers did worse than the pre-pandemic baseline: 4 of 30 at or above asking, and the typical home closing 8.4% below its original price. That was below normal, not merely below the boom. 2025 and the last twelve months have recovered past it and back to the pre-pandemic pattern.
Volume tells its own story
2020 recorded 74 waterfront sales, half again as many as the next busiest year in the record, as buyers moved on lake property during the pandemic. Inventory then ran thin, and 2022 through 2024 recorded 32, 33 and 30 sales. 2025 returned to 45, near the pre-pandemic pace.
Current Gun Lake Waterfront Snapshot
Data as of August 28, 2026, covering residential properties with Gun Lake frontage. Sold figures cover the trailing 12 months, source MichRIC MLS. Figures update periodically. Contact our team for current numbers on a specific stretch of shoreline.
Sales, last 12 months
- Waterfront homes sold: 33
- Median sold price: $670,000
- Average sold price: $667,134
- Range of sales: $50,000 to $1,400,000
- Sold vs final asking price: 97.5% at the median
- Sold vs original asking price: 95.5% at the median
- Sold at or above final asking price: 8 of 33
- Sales pace: about 2.8 per month
Current inventory
- Active listings: 23
- Median asking price: $699,900
- Average asking price: $706,222
- Range of asking prices: $179,900 to $1,800,000
- Median price per square foot, active: $420.33
- Median days on market, active: 30 days
- Average days on market, active: about 55 days
- Under contract: 5 pending at a median asking price of $775,000
- Months of supply: about 8.4
What This Means If You Are Selling on Gun Lake
Price to 2019, not to 2021. The negotiating dynamic today matches the years before the pandemic almost exactly. That is a workable market, and it is the one most Gun Lake sellers sold into for the decade before 2020. It is only disappointing measured against a single extraordinary year.
Then take the other half of the record seriously. The pre-pandemic median was $307,000 and the last twelve months came in at $670,000. If you have owned through that period, the appreciation is real even though the negotiation has returned to normal.
Budget for roughly four and a half points between your first price and your closing price. The median seller over the last twelve months closed at 95.5% of their original asking price, which is what the pre-pandemic market did too. That belongs in the plan before the listing goes live.
Eight months of supply means the buyer has alternatives. With twenty-three homes listed and under three selling a month, an overpriced listing does not get corrected by a competing bid. It waits, and the correction comes out of the final price instead.
What This Means If You Are Buying on Gun Lake
The window where you had to pay asking has closed. In 2021 more than half of Gun Lake waterfront sold at or above list. Today it is one in four, which is where it sat through 2017, 2018 and 2019.
Ask what a listing was originally priced at, not just what it is asking now. The gap between original and final asking price is where this market does its negotiating, and a listing that has already reduced twice is telling you something a current asking price alone does not.
Do not read every long-listed property as a bargain. Some are priced wrong and some have a reason nobody wanted them. On a lake with a ten year range from $20,000 to $1,950,000, working out which is which is most of the job.
Diligence on the water and the structure. Dock permitting, riparian rights, water depth at your frontage, seawall condition, septic systems on older cottages and any structures near the water all deserve professional review, and requirements vary by township. Order the inspections that match the property rather than the ones that match the price, and verify everything affecting your purchase, including boundaries and permitted uses, with the municipality and your own professionals. Nothing on this page is legal advice.
More Waterfront Market Data
- Lake Macatawa Waterfront Market Data
- Lake Michigan Waterfront Market Data
- West Michigan Luxury Homes
Gun Lake vs Lake Michigan Waterfront
Buyers considering Gun Lake are often weighing it against Lake Michigan lakeshore properties in Holland, Grand Haven, or Saugatuck. The key differences: Gun Lake is an all-sports lake with calmer water suitable for all boating activities — Lake Michigan's open water requires more boat experience and is seasonal for water sports. Gun Lake is more accessible price-point waterfront — Lake Michigan frontage starts at $600,000 for entry-level properties and scales to $5,000,000+. Gun Lake is inland — Lake Michigan offers the iconic sunsets and beach experience that no inland lake replicates. For buyers who prioritize boating activity and lake community over the Lake Michigan beach experience, Gun Lake often delivers more value per dollar.
Gun Lake Fishing
Gun Lake supports an excellent fishery — Black Crappie, Bluegill, Channel Catfish, Largemouth Bass, Smallmouth Bass, Northern Pike, Muskellunge, Walleye, and Yellow Perch. The Michigan DNR maintains a public boat launch with hard surface ramp and parking. Fishing access is one of the consistent reasons buyers who discover Gun Lake through their recreational fishing activities become waterfront buyers.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is Gun Lake Michigan known for?
All-sports boating, exceptional 4th of July fireworks (850+ boats), Bay Pointe dock dining, Yankee Springs Recreation Area hiking, and strong inland lake fishing. Approximately 27 miles southeast of Grand Rapids.
Is Gun Lake a good investment?
About 23 active waterfront listings and roughly 8.4 months of supply as of August 2026, consistent demand from Grand Rapids and Kalamazoo buyers, and structural supply limitation from full shoreline development make Gun Lake a historically stable waterfront market. RSPS-certified team — we specialize in resort and waterfront property transactions.
Interested in Gun Lake Michigan Real Estate?
RSPS certified — resort and waterfront property expertise. The Lakeshore's most reviewed team. Free consultation — call (616) 344-9923.
Call or text: (616) 344-9923
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