The Best of Island Living
Nantucket
The charm of old New England, with its stately sea captain’s houses and fishing wharfs, meet modern life on this 48 square mile island, 30 miles south of Cape Cod.
A perennial favorite summer getaway, when the island population swells to 50,000 (from an off-season 10,000), Nantucket real estate pricing has nevertheless suffered as a result of uncertainties in the financial markets.
“People have been hesitant to buy, waiting to see what the true value is of the property they want,” said Jane Miller, a broker with Lee Real Estate. Miller has sold real estate on the island for 25 years. “Our high end buyers don’t want to buy a property only to have it decrease in value by 50 percent or less in a year.” Miller reports that sales are 36 percent off last year’s volume. “People who don’t have to sell, aren’t,” she said. “They’re holding out for close to their asking price.”
Miller still believes 2009 will “be a good year for an area like us. We’re isolated. But we’re in the category of a luxury commodity. Most of our sales are cash and our buyers are sophisticated. They know the market. They know the value of their purchase will eventually go up.”
Some of the most popular areas on the island include Brant Point, with a listed home at $4.5 million, and properties close with harbor views.
Cape Cod
Best known for its quaint natural beauty, highlighted by over 560 miles of waterfront, the 15 tranquil towns on this 65-mile Penninsula have long drawn second-home buyers from major northeast seaboard cities.
The high end market has been affected by the economy on the Cape, reports Sandra Tanco, a sales associate with Kinlin Grover Real Estate, Harwich Port, on Nantucket Sound.
Real Estate reports comparing 2008 to 2007 show a decrease in numbers of home sold. “That’s not surprising, considering the state of the economy,” she said.
“The good news, however, is that we’re starting to see activity in the second home market, at the $4 million and up range,” Tanco said. “As prices have come down, buyers are coming in with cash. People have been sitting back, waiting it seems to see how market conditions play out.”
Tanco noted that many of her buyers have been international buyers. “They’re very currency conscious, particularly with the dollar rising in value.”
But what never loses value is what the Cape offers best in ocean side communities like Turo or Wellfleet, a desirable lifestyle and a great place to raise a family, all in spectacular settings.
Manhattan, New York
Many buyers at the luxury end of New York’s real estate market are waiting on the sidelines with cash, as they wait to see how financial markets will react to President Barrack Obama’s stimulus plan.
“It’s no secret that many financial institutions have been in turmoil in the city, and people have lost jobs,” remarked Eugenia C. Foxworth, broker, Foxworth Realty, in New York City. “But there is still activity. There is so much inventory. People are buying, but they are very selective. And they are buying at a much lower price than they were before the financial crisis occurred.”
Foxworth identifies three major trends in the market: “First, and most obviously, prices are going down,” she said. “Second, buyers are controlling the market. And third, deals that were done back in September 2008 that are closing now, are being renegotiated according to present market value.”
The Chelsea section is hot. So too, Riverdale, Foxworth observes. Some people are buying to rent their properties. A luxury west side apartment, for example, is renting for $17,000 a month.
“What is selling?” she asks. “The better properties that do not need work, that are convenient to transportation, and that are well maintained.”
