Updated September 2026
There is no single best community on Lake Martin. There's a best area for the way you actually plan to use the water, and that question has a much better answer. This post picks up the area-by-area question raised in the Guide to Living on Lake Martin.
Here's the short version. The north end around Alexander City holds the most developed communities and the shortest run to a grocery store or a hardware store. The east side around Dadeville is quieter and puts you near StillWaters and the creek coves. The south end around Kowaliga sits on the Elmore County side and shortens the drive toward Montgomery. All three have waterfront, water access, and off water homes across a wide price range. What separates a great lot from a frustrating one is usually water depth in February, not curb appeal in June.
The Bottom Line
- Alabama Power Shorelines lists Lake Martin at 41,150 acres with 880 miles of shoreline (accessed September 2026). Wikipedia's Lake Martin entry lists 44,000 acres and 743 miles of shoreline (accessed September 2026). The bigger acreage is the one that gets repeated in marketing; the operator's number is the one I use.
- The lake runs 31 miles upstream of Martin Dam, with a maximum depth of 155 feet and an average depth of 41 feet (Wikipedia, Lake Martin, accessed September 2026). Distance between areas is real, and so is the difference between deep water and a shallow slough.
- Full pool is 491 feet above sea level. Alabama Power publishes the Martin Dam elevation daily, and in early September 2026 it was running roughly a foot below full pool (Alabama Power Shorelines, accessed September 2026).
- Lake Martin touches three counties: Tallapoosa, Elmore, and Coosa (Wikipedia, Lake Martin, accessed September 2026). County line drives your tax assessment, your school district, and who answers the phone about permitting.
- Residential sales in the Lake Martin Area Association of REALTORS® service area were 73 in July 2026, up from 62 in July 2025 (Lake Martin Area Association of REALTORS®, reported by the Alabama Center for Real Estate, August 31, 2026).
Why the area matters more than the address on Lake Martin
Lake Martin is not a neighborhood with a lake in it. It's a working reservoir with towns arranged around it, and the areas are genuinely far apart.
Alabama Power Shorelines puts the reservoir at 41,150 acres with 880 miles of shoreline (accessed September 2026). You'll see 44,000 acres quoted all over the internet, which comes from Wikipedia's Lake Martin entry (accessed September 2026). Both numbers are published, they don't agree, and I'd rather tell you that than pick the flattering one and hope you never check.
Either way, it's a big lake. It runs 31 miles upstream of Martin Dam, hits a maximum depth of 155 feet, and averages 41 feet (Wikipedia, Lake Martin, accessed September 2026). A north end home and a south end home are not substitutes for each other. They're different drives, different counties, and often different water.
Martin Dam went into service in 1926 (Alabama Power Shorelines). That century of history is why you can find a small older cabin and brand new construction sitting in the same cove, priced for two completely different buyers.
Check the water level before you fall for the view
This is the part I'd want a friend to tell me. Full pool on Lake Martin is 491 feet above sea level, and Alabama Power operates the reservoir seasonally. The company posts the current elevation at Martin Dam every day on its Shorelines page for Lake Martin, and in early September 2026 it was running roughly a foot below full pool. Check it the morning you go look at a house, not a month later.
What that means in practice: the water you see off a pier in June is not the water you'll see off that same pier in February, and how much it matters depends on the cove. A deep water lot near the main channel behaves very differently from a shallow slough at the back of a creek. Two homes in the same community, same price, can be a completely different boating experience for much of the year.
Alabama Power operates the reservoir, so before you fall in love with a pier, confirm what is permitted on that specific lot.
Local rules change. Confirm current requirements with the county before relying on anything here. This is not legal advice.
The north end: Alexander City and the Russell Lands communities
Alexander City is the largest town on the lake. The 2020 census counted 14,843 residents across 43.70 square miles of land, at an elevation of 682 feet (Wikipedia, Alexander City, Alabama, accessed September 2026). It anchors the northwest end, which is the practical side of the lake: groceries, hardware, medical, restaurants that stay open past Labor Day.
Most of the named communities buyers ask me about are on this end.
Willow Point
Willow Point sits on the northwest end near Alexander City, built around Willow Point Golf and Country Club, and developed by Russell Lands. It's the name most out of town buyers have already heard before they call. If golf is part of why you're buying, start here and ask for the club's current membership structure in writing, because that is a separate decision from the house.
The Ridge
The Ridge is a Russell Lands neighborhood on the north end of the lake. It's a planned community, so if shared amenities are part of the appeal, ask for the current amenity list, the dues schedule, and the governing documents before you write an offer. Those change, and what a listing says about them is not the same as what the association says.
Trillium and Windover
Trillium is another Russell Lands community on this end, and it covers a range of waterfront property types rather than one narrow product. Windover is a Russell Lands development with access to Chimney Rock, one of the landmarks people actually navigate by out here.
If you're shopping the north end generally, this is where I'd have you spend a Saturday. Four or five communities within a short drive of each other, very different feel, and you'll know within an hour which one you keep thinking about.
The east side: Dadeville, StillWaters, and the creek coves
Dadeville is the Tallapoosa County seat. The 2020 census counted 3,084 residents across 15.94 square miles of land, at an elevation of 705 feet (Wikipedia, Dadeville, Alabama, accessed September 2026). Both towns sit well above the water, which is worth holding in your head next to that 491 foot full pool.
Dadeville is the closest town to StillWaters and to the Blue Creek and Sandy Creek side of the lake.
StillWaters
StillWaters is the big one on this end. It's a lake and golf community with waterfront homes, condominiums, villas, water access homes, and golf course homes, built around StillWaters Golf Course. That mix is the point. Water access and off water homes generally price below true waterfront, so a community carrying both gives you more ways in than a street of pure waterfront does.
If your budget doesn't clear waterfront on the north end, the east side is usually the first place I'd look next.
The south end: Kowaliga, Real Island, and the Elmore County side
Kowaliga anchors the south end on the Elmore County side, and Kowaliga Marina and Kowaliga Restaurant are the landmarks everybody gives directions by. Real Island is another named area buyers will see in listings down here.
The south end is a different math problem. You're in Elmore County rather than Tallapoosa, which changes your assessment and your school district, and you're closer to the Montgomery side of the drive. Smaller places like Jackson's Gap and Eclectic turn up in lake addresses too.
If your work or your people pull you toward Montgomery rather than Auburn, look at the south end first. If it's the other direction, the north and east sides usually win on drive time.
What the Lake Martin market is actually doing
Residential sales in the Lake Martin Area Association of REALTORS® service area were 73 in July 2026, up from 62 in July 2025 (Lake Martin Area Association of REALTORS®, reported by the Alabama Center for Real Estate, August 31, 2026). That's the whole association footprint, not one community.
The bigger story is the shape of the year. In that same footprint, sales ran 28 in January 2025 and 35 in February 2025, climbed to 81 in May 2025, then eased to 56 in June and 62 in July (Lake Martin Area Association of REALTORS®, reported by the Alabama Center for Real Estate). Lake Martin has a season in a way the Auburn market simply does not.
Chart 1. Residential sales by month, Lake Martin Area Association of REALTORS® service area, selected months of 2025 (January, February, May, June, July). Source: Lake Martin Area Association of REALTORS®, reported by the Alabama Center for Real Estate. Bar chart, zero baseline.
Inventory tells the same story from the other direction. In February 2026 there was enough active inventory on the market to last 13.6 months at the sales pace of that moment. By July 2026 that had tightened to 6.9 months (Lake Martin Area Association of REALTORS®, reported by the Alabama Center for Real Estate). Same lake, same houses, a completely different amount of competition depending on when you show up.
Compared month for month against last year, 2026 is holding up. February 2026 came in at 31 against 35 in February 2025, and May 2026 at 79 against 81. June 2026 ran 62 against 56, and July 2026 ran 73 against 62 (Lake Martin Area Association of REALTORS®, reported by the Alabama Center for Real Estate). For the property-type split behind the June number, waterfront against off-water against lots, see the Lake Martin market report.
Chart 2. Residential sales, 2025 compared with 2026, Lake Martin Area Association of REALTORS® service area, February, May, June, and July. Source: Lake Martin Area Association of REALTORS®, reported by the Alabama Center for Real Estate. Grouped bar chart, zero baseline.
One thing to watch when you're reading lake numbers anywhere: the geography label matters more than the figure. The Lake Martin Area Association of REALTORS® counted 73 residential sales in July 2026. The Lee County Association of REALTORS® counted 239 for its All Areas footprint in the same month. Those aren't contradictory, and neither one is a Lee County figure or a community level figure. They're two associations reporting two overlapping service areas, and the LCAR footprint reaches into Tallapoosa and Elmore, which is lake country. Anyone quoting you a number for a single subdivision should be able to show you exactly which boundary they drew.
Lake figures are residential closed sales for the Lake Martin Area Association of REALTORS® service area, January 2025 through July 2026, as reported by the Alabama Center for Real Estate. Lee County Association of REALTORS® figures are the All Areas cut for July 2026. Information is deemed reliable but not guaranteed, and you should independently verify anything you plan to act on. Market conditions change and past figures are not a prediction.
How the lake compares to the Auburn side
A lot of my Lake Martin buyers are also looking at the Auburn side, either as a primary home or as the place they'll keep the mailbox. Here's the mainland market for context, and to be clear about the boundary: this is the Lee County Association of REALTORS® All Areas cut, which is the association's full service area. Lee County is most of it, but All Areas is wider than the county and it reaches into Tallapoosa and Elmore. It is not a Lee County figure, and it is not a lake figure either.
Metric | LCAR All Areas, July 2026 |
|---|---|
Residential sold | 239 |
Residential on the market | 834 |
Residential new listings | 291 |
Residential average days on market | 54 |
Residential median sold price | $406,260 |
Residential average sold price | $453,087 |
Source: Lee County Association of REALTORS®, All Areas, July 2026 housing stats (published August 10, 2026).
LCAR's All Areas footprint moved 239 residential sales in July 2026 with 834 on the market. The Lake Martin association's footprint moved 73 in the same month. Different sizes, different rhythms, and a very different amount of choice on any given weekend.
How I'd pick your area
- Start with the drive, not the dock. Decide which side of the lake your normal week points toward, then shop that end. It's the one thing you can't renovate.
- Pick your water before your house. Main channel, deep cove, or shallow slough. Ask what the water at that pier looks like at the low end of the season, not just on the day you tour.
- Know your county. Tallapoosa, Elmore, or Coosa. It changes assessment, district, and permitting authority.
- Decide waterfront versus water access honestly. Water access buys you more house for the money in most communities, and if you're a two weekends a month owner it may serve you better than a pier you rarely untie.
- Get the documents before the offer. Dues, assessments, club membership terms, and boat slip rights are the details that surprise people at closing.
One note so I don't waste your time: I've left amenity counts, club dues, HOA figures, and per community price averages out of this post, because I couldn't source them to a current document I'd stand behind, and on this lake those move.
Questions I get about Lake Martin communities
Which county will my Lake Martin home be in?
One of three: Tallapoosa, Elmore, or Coosa (Wikipedia, Lake Martin, accessed September 2026). The north and east sides of the lake, including Alexander City and Dadeville, are in Tallapoosa County. Kowaliga and the south end are on the Elmore County side. Confirm the county on the deed and the tax record for the specific parcel, not from the mailing address.
Is Lake Martin a year-round market?
It transacts all year, but it has a clear season. Sales in the Lake Martin Area Association of REALTORS® service area ran 28 in January 2025 and 81 in May 2025 (Lake Martin Area Association of REALTORS®, reported by the Alabama Center for Real Estate). If you're buying, winter is a thinner selection and less competition. If you're selling, spring is when the traffic shows up.
Why do the acreage and shoreline numbers never match?
Because there are two sets of published figures in circulation. Alabama Power Shorelines lists 41,150 acres and 880 miles of shoreline (accessed September 2026). Wikipedia's Lake Martin entry lists 44,000 acres and 743 miles of shoreline (accessed September 2026). Neither is a typo. They're different measurements, and shoreline in particular depends on how finely you trace every cove, which is how two honest counts end up more than a hundred miles apart.
Want to walk a few of these areas?
If you're stuck between the north end and the south end, that's a one day problem, not a six month problem. Give me a Saturday and we'll drive Alexander City, cut over toward Dadeville and StillWaters, and end up at Kowaliga so you can feel the difference instead of reading about it. By dinner you'll know which end of the lake is yours.
I'm Amy Cotney, REALTOR® with Roots Real Estate - Investment Development in Auburn, and I work Auburn, Opelika, Lake Martin, Lee County, Pike Road, and the rest of East Alabama. If you're thinking about buying or selling on Lake Martin, reach out. I'd love to help.
Sources
- Alabama Power Shorelines, Lake Martin: https://apcshorelines.com/lake/martin/ (accessed September 2026). Full pool elevation, surface acres, shoreline miles, dam in service year, and the daily elevation reading at Martin Dam.
- Wikipedia, Lake Martin: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_Martin (accessed September 2026). Competing surface acreage and shoreline figures, maximum and average depth, maximum length, counties.
- Wikipedia, Alexander City, Alabama: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_City,_Alabama (accessed September 2026). 2020 census population, land area, elevation.
- Wikipedia, Dadeville, Alabama: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dadeville,_Alabama (accessed September 2026). 2020 census population, land area, elevation.
- Lake Martin Area Association of REALTORS® monthly residential sales, as reported by the Alabama Center for Real Estate: https://acre.culverhouse.ua.edu/research/residential-research/lake-martin/. July 2026 release published August 31, 2026; June 2026 released July 21, 2026; May 2026 released June 23, 2026; February 2026 released March 26, 2026; January 2025 released March 5, 2025.
- Lee County Association of REALTORS®, All Areas residential statistics, July 2026 housing stats (published August 10, 2026).
Amy Cotney, REALTOR®, is a licensed real estate salesperson (Alabama license #108235) with Roots Real Estate - Investment Development, 235 N Gay St, Auburn, AL 36830. Call or text (334) 332-4002 or email [email protected]. Equal Housing Opportunity.
