July 21, 2025

What does the buyer pool look like for a $7.5 million house in Sioux Falls?

Real estate agent Spencer Mannes is starting to find out.

Since listing the home at 8009 S. Windswept Circle in June, Mannes, an agent with Core Cos., has seen “a fair amount of interest for the price point and stipulations to show,” he said, adding that there already have been multiple showings to qualified buyers.

“Sioux Falls is one of those odd cities that there’s a lot of money here … and I think traditionally Sioux Falls has been pretty conservative, and people maybe don’t want to spend that high-dollar amount, but it’s becoming more and more prevalent.”

The numbers appear to back him up.

In the past six months, 30 homes in Minnehaha and Lincoln counties have sold for more than $1 million.

“We’ve seen almost a 50 percent raise in luxury home sales in recent months and years,” said Callie Wockenfuss, president-elect of the Realtor Association of the Sioux Empire Inc.

“Your buyers in that luxury home market are less impacted by interest rates. Some of them don’t care. It doesn’t impact them. And our prices have almost doubled in the last five years, so what used to be a $500,000 house in 2022, I would say that house is $900,000-something right now, and houses in the $700,000 or $800,000 or $900,000 are now $1.2 (million) or $1.3 million.”

In 2024, the No. 1 home sold at $2,745,500 didn’t top the most expensive sale of 2023, which was $3.7 million.

This year already has far surpassed that, with a recent sale for $6.8 million at 4904 S. Jasmine Trail. The 8,500-square-foot house is being built by Skogen Inc. The previous house on the lot was sold for $900,000 in 2022 and torn down.

“I think it’s a signal that people believe in Sioux Falls’ long-term value,” said Amy Stockberger, founder of Amy Stockberger Real Estate. An agent on her team, Teresa Geiken, has an east-side home listed at $4.9 million at 1617 S. Scarlet Oak Place.

“They’re buying at this level that is more of a generational asset, or at least it could be. I have another agent with a $3 million coming up.”

The recently recorded sale approaching $7 million “really helps and will break the door open for a lot of people to say it’s OK to spend this kind of money,” Mannes said. “There’s a lot more than you might think. Most of it is done off-market.”

That is common — and so is buying a home only to demolish it and start over, said Jeff Koch of Ameri/Star Real Estate, who has sold multiple homes at more than $3 million and one over $4 million in the past several years, including a number of them that never were publicly listed.

“Typically, it’s a seller setting a price and saying if you can get it and it’s an easy deal and they give the closing date they want, they’ll do it,” he said. “I don’t think necessarily all these listings are because of the economy. It’s just different situations for families. In the past couple of years, I’ve been lucky enough to be in most of these, and it’s always somebody moving out or downsizing.”

Who’s buying 

Ultra-luxury buyers typically fall into two camps: Locals who are successful business owners or medical professionals, or newcomers to the area who have sold homes for considerable profit in more expensive markets.

Koch has found that “anymore, so many people are so quietly doing well that a lot of them don’t have lake cabins or Arizona homes. They just want a beautiful, awesome house, and that’s where they’re going to put all their money,” he said.

“A lot of them are building pools and pool houses, and that’s their vacation, too, because it’s a beautiful backyard and that’s where they want to spend their weekends.”

Listing agent Mark Fiechtner, broker/owner of Dynamic Realty, has seen showings about twice per month in the 10 months since he listed a 9,300-square-foot home at 705 E. Silver Pond Place for $4.9 million.

“We vet them pretty carefully,” he said. “You can’t just walk in. You have to have a pre-approval letter and funds verification before you even look at it, and that scares some people off. It’s obviously top of the market.”

He has three houses currently listed over $1 million, and “the traffic has been really good,” he said. “The ones I have listed right over $1 million get shown once a week. They’re mostly locals, successful businessmen.”

Buyers from out of state also are part of the pool, Stockberger said.

“The majority of my corporate partners are hiring leadership from out of market,” she said. “My YouTube channel is about the busiest it’s been in two years as far as leads from people wanting to relocate.”

Out-of-state buyers also make up a big pool of buyers for Wockenfuss, an agent with Real Estate Retrievers.

“They moved in from cash-rich states and sold a home with a pretty high price with a lot of equity, and they’re coming in and buying with cash, a lot of them,” she said. “I just sold a house to a buyer from Virginia, I have one under contract from California, and I’m working with Texas and two out of Minneapolis, and that’s just me.”

Many of them work entirely online and can work anywhere, she said.

“South Dakota has a lower cost of living. You get more house for your money, we have lower taxes, and there’s just a plethora of reasons,” she said. “Sioux Falls attracts professionals. We are growing and thriving and forward-thinking. We can compete with Omaha and Minneapolis and Kansas, we’ve got all the amenities, and I just think we’re producing a product that’s attractive to these high-end buyers.”

Financing isn’t nearly as tied to the interest rate environment, either.

“All these deals are either cash deals or there’s an LLC with a line of credit, and the banker comes and they just write a check,” Koch said.

Finding a price — or a place to build

Because few deals reach the Multiple Listing Services, or MLS, there aren’t that many in excess of $3 million anyway, so pricing can be an inexact science.

Mannes said he bases largely on the assumed cost to build something similar combined with analyzing what few comparable sales are available.

It’s nuanced, Stockberger added.

“It’s hard to price without any real comps, and the ones that happen off-market there’s no real way to know unless you can get ahold of the builder and know what upgrades are in there to adjust for that,” she said. “It’s uncharted territory.”

And while an ultra-luxury buyer would appear to be able to customize any home desired from scratch, finding the lot is the biggest challenge.

“They get instant gratification to buy existing,” Koch said. “It’s easier than starting from scratch and taking a year and a half, and in a lot of cases it’s cheaper to renovate than build new.”

It’s Joel McDowell’s job to find lots for those who do want to build from the ground up — and that has not been easy.

“No. 1 right now, most people want to be in south-central Sioux Falls, and there’s nothing available,” said McDowell, owner of Core Cos. “No knock on Harrisburg, but if you would have told me someone built a $3 million house in Harrisburg five years ago, I would have laughed. We have one (lot) available for $350,000 and it backs up to storage units, and we’ll get it.”

He scours the areas for availability and is finding what few lots are unbuilt in south Sioux Falls are owned by people who have no interest in selling.

“There are those who buy just to protect their view,” he said. “In the middle of town, McKennan Park area, you’re starting to see some tear downs and rebuilds.”

In the meantime, there are plenty of buyers looking, Stockberger said.

“They’re in the $2 (millions) and ready to go,” she said. “If anyone has a $2 (million) to $3 million, now is the time to put it on the market.”

Mannes is seeing the same, he said.

“I think right now, a lot of people are coming to maybe not a realization but (understanding) if we want to sell our house and move, there’s no better time to put it on the market and see what sticks.”