LandVest’s New England High-End Real Estate Index

Dec

Cape Cod Real Estate News: High-End Real Estate Market Watch Q3 2011
By LandVest

Cape Cod is internationally famous as a summer resort area and is increasingly popular for retirement living. It features miles of beaches, natural attractions, historic sites, art galleries, and four star restaurants and hotels. Outdoor activities include world class yachting, coastal and deep-sea fishing, numerous public and private golf courses, and a wide variety of other informal summer sports. The Cape is just 75 miles from Logan Airport in Boston, Massachusetts and T.F. Green Airport in Providence, Rhode Island. Executive jet services are available at the Hyannis airport and there are several other smaller airports. Cape Cod is divided into four regions: Upper Cape, Mid Cape, Lower Cape, and Outer Cape, each including several towns and villages. Upper Cape towns include Bourne, Sandwich, Falmouth, and Mashpee. Mid Cape towns include Barnstable, Dennis, and Yarmouth. Lower Cape towns include Harwich, Brewster, Chatham, and Orleans. Outer Cape towns include Eastham, Wellfleet, Truro, and Provincetown.

Active Listings and Sales, $2,000,000+, First Three Quarters, 2000-2011

On Cape Cod, Massachusetts, the inventory of high-end listings in the first three quarters of 2011 shrank 14% from 271 listings at the end of June to 233 listings at the end of September. Typically the listing inventory grows through the first three quarters and then declines in the fourth quarter as sales are closed and properties are taken off the market. This unusual trend is likely a combination of properties being repriced below our high-end cut-off of $2,000,000 as well as sellers taking properties off the market.

High-end sales declined from 38 in the first three quarters of 2010 to 33 in 2011. The peak level of sales for this time of year was 60 sales in the first three quarters of 2006. Third quarter performance has been flat for the past four years with 13 sales in the third quarter of 2011 and a peak of 23 sales in the third quarter of 2007. The very high-end inventory is also shrinking, but remains large by historical standards. There are 29 listings over $5 million and 8 over $10 million with 6 sales over $5 million and 1 sale over $10 million in the first three quarters of 2011. Overall, the Cape Cod market continues to under perform, but anecdotal information from leading Cape Cod brokers and LandVest’s own recent experience suggests that there is a modest, but noticeable increase in buyer inquiries and showings. Across New England LandVest brokers continued to report an upsurge in activity in our markets and sporadic signature sales throughout the summer and early fall.

Highest and Median Sale, $2,000,000+, First Three Quarters, 2000-2011

In the third quarter of 2011 the very high-end on Cape Cod came alive with three sales above $5 million. The top sale was $11.6 million for an 11,500 square foot residence with waterfront in the Seapuit neighborhood of Osterville. There were two additional top sales in Osterville in the third quarter. 861 Seaview Avenue for $5,265,000 and 395 Eel River Road for $6,500,000. In Chatham, 74 Sears Point Road sold for $6,500,000.

The median value for high-end sales in the first three quarters of 2011 was $2.8 million, about on par with median sale prices over the past decade. The high-end market on Cape Cod is predominately in the $2-$3 million range. In the first three quarters of 2011, there were 33 sales above $2.0 million. Of these sales 20 of 33 were between $2 and $3 million and 25 of 33 were below $4 million.

Days on Market, Sales, $2,000,000+, First Three Quarters, 2000-2011

Days on market for high-end properties sold during the first three quarters of 2011 increased to 559 days compared to 533 days in the first half of the year and compared to the record of 589 days for the first half of 2010. For 2000-2009, the average days on market for sales in the first half of the year ranged from 90 to 226 days, generally increasing over time with a significant jump in 2010.

Sales by Town, $2,000,000+, First Three Quarters, 2000-2011

Starting around 2002 the high-end market on Cape Cod broadened as the perennial top markets were perceived as being too expensive and as buyers bid up the prices of special properties in other towns. By 2006, 13 of the 15 towns on Cape Cod were recording sales above $2 million. In the first half of 2010, however, there was a substantial contraction in the market with only 5 towns recording high-end sales. In the first half of 2011, the market had broadened again with an additional 4 towns recording single high-end sales and in the third quarter another 2 towns recorded high-end sales. Cape Cod towns with high-end sales in the first three quarters of 2011 include Barnstable (all Osterville) (11), Chatham (8), Orleans (4), Falmouth (2), Harwich Port (2), Brewster (1), Dennis (1), Mashpee (1), Provincetown (1), and Truro (1).

Mill Farm Waterfront Compound
in Yarmouthport, MA is currently for sale

Wychmere Waterfront Estate
in Harwich Port, MA is currently for sale

Cohasset Waterfront Estate
in Cohasset, MA is currently for sale

Fairview Waterfront Compound
in Woods Hole, MA is currently for sale

View Cape Cod Area Select Sales

To view available real estate on Cape Cod visit www.landvest.com or click Cape Cod Real Estate for Sale

For information about buying or selling real estate on Cape Cod, please contact Stewart Young at syoung@landvest.com or 617-357-8930

For additional information about LandVest’s real estate consulting, appraisal, and brokerage services, please contact: Ruth Kennedy Sudduth.

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Aug

Cape Cod Real Estate News: High-End Market Watch, First Half, 2010-2011
By LandVest

Cape Cod is divided into four regions: Upper Cape, Mid Cape, Lower Cape, and Outer Cape, each including several towns and villages. Upper Cape towns include Bourne (which includes the Wings Neck area of Pocasset), Sandwich, Falmouth, and Mashpee. Mid Cape towns include Barnstable (which includes the village of Centerville) , Dennis, and Yarmouth. Lower Cape towns include Harwich, Brewster, Chatham, and Orleans. Outer Cape towns include Eastham, Wellfleet, Truro, and Provincetown.

Active Listings and Sales, $2,000,000+, First Half, 2000-2011

On Cape Cod, Massachusetts, the inventory of high-end listings in the first half of 2011 grew to a record level for this time of year (a 15% increase to 271 listings vs. 248 at the same point in 2010). At the very high-end, there are 39 listings over $5 million and 9 over $10 million.

First half high-end sales declined from 24 in the first half of 2010 to 20 this year. The peak for first half sales was 44 sales in 2006. Last year the second quarter 2010 performance surged giving some hope of a recovery in the high-end market. This year the second quarter has lagged by 26% compared to the second quarter of 2010. Overall, the Cape Cod market continues to underperform, but anecdotal information from leading Cape Cod brokers and LandVest’s own recent experience suggests that there is a modest, but noticeable increase in buyer inquiries and showings. Across New England LandVest brokers reported an upsurge in activity in March and April across our markets and sporadic signature sales throughout the spring and early summer.
Highest and Median Sale, $2,000,000+, First Half, 2000-2011

In the first half of 2011 the top sale on Cape Cod was $6.2 million for a beachfront property on North Bay Road in the Oyster Harbors community of Osterville that was on the market for 615 days. The next highest sale was $5,500,000 for a beachfront property on Sea View Avenue in the village of Wianno, also in Osterville, with 652 days on market. The median value for high-end sales in the first half of 2011 was $2.7 million, about on par with median sale prices over the past decade. In the first half of 2010, the median sale was $3.6 million due to an unusual number of higher valued sales. The high-end market on Cape Cod is predominately in the $2-$3 million range. In the first half of 2011, there were 20 sales above $2.0 million. Of these sales 13 of 20 were below $3 million and 17 of 20 were below $4 million.

Days on Market, Sales, $2,000,000+, First Half, 2000-2011

Days on market for high-end properties sold during the first half of 2011 were reduced modestly to 533 days compared to the record of 589 days for the first half of 2010. For 2000-2009, the average days on market for sales in the first half of the year ranged from 90 to 226 days, generally increasing over time with a significant jump in 2010.

Sales by Town, $2,000,000+, First Half, 2000-2011

Starting around 2002 the high-end market on Cape Cod broadened as the perennial top markets were perceived as being too expensive and as buyers bid up the prices of special properties in other towns. By 2006, 13 of the 15 towns on Cape Cod were recording sales above $2 million. In the first half of 2010, however, there was a substantial contraction in the market with only 5 towns recording high-end sales. In the first half of 2011, the market had broadened again with an additional 4 towns recording single high-end sales. Cape Cod towns with high-end sales in the first half of 2011 include Barnstable (Osterville) (6), Chatham (3), Orleans (3), Falmouth (2), Harwich Port (2), Dennis (1), Mashpee (1), Provincetown (1), and Truro (1).

Viking Point in Orleans, MA is currently for sale

Mill Farm Waterfront Compound in Yarmouthport, MA is currently for sale

Highpoint Waterfront Compound in Marstons Mills, MA is currently for sale

Masthead in Provincetown, MA is currently for sale

View Cape Cod Area Select Sales

To view available real estate on Cape Cod visit www.landvest.com or click Cape Cod Real Estate for Sale

For information about buying or selling real estate on Cape Cod, please contact Stewart Young at syoung@landvest.com or 617-357-8930

For additional information about LandVest’s real estate consulting, appraisal, and brokerage services, please contact: Ruth Kennedy Sudduth.

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May

Cape Cod Real Estate News: High-End Real Estate Market Watch Q1 2011
By LandVest

Cape Cod is internationally famous as a summer resort area and is increasingly popular for retirement living. It features miles of beaches, natural attractions, historic sites, art galleries, and four star restaurants and hotels. Outdoor activities include world class yachting, coastal and deep-sea fishing, numerous public and private golf courses, and a wide variety of other informal summer sports. The Cape is just 75 miles from Logan Airport in Boston, Massachusetts and T.F. Green Airport in Providence, Rhode Island. Executive jet services are available at the Hyannis airport and there are several other smaller airports.
Cape Cod is divided into four regions: Upper Cape, Mid Cape, Lower Cape, and Outer Cape, each including several towns and villages. Upper Cape towns include Bourne, Sandwich, Falmouth, and Mashpee. Mid Cape towns include Barnstable, Dennis, and Yarmouth. Lower Cape towns include Harwich, Brewster, Chatham, and Orleans. Outer Cape towns include Eastham, Wellfleet, Truro, and Provincetown.

Active Listings and Sales, $2,000,000+, First Quarter, 2000-2011

On Cape Cod, Massachusetts, the first quarter 2011 inventory of high-end listings grew as expected compared to year end 2010 and to a record level for this time of year (235 listings vs. 216 at the same point in 2010). First quarter high-end sales were flat, increasing to 6 from 5 in the first quarter of 2010. The peak for first quarter sales was 23 sales in 2008. 2010 first quarter sales were the lowest since 2002. Last year the first quarter 2010 performance lagged 2009 (5 sales vs. 8 in 2009), but surged ahead in the second and third quarters. LandVest brokers report a similar lag in vacation real estate sales attributed in part to severe weather in the first two months of the year, but also have report an upsurge in activity in March and April. A recent sale of a LandVest listing on Mount Desert Island, Maine for $15,000,000 and several other significant sales across LandVest’s markets are cause for optimism for the spring market.

Highest and Median Sale, $2,000,000+, First Quarter,

2000-2011

In the first quarter of 2011 the top sale was $3.5 million for a beachfront property on Fay Road in Woods Hole that was on the market for 681 days. The median value for high end sales in the first quarter of 2011 was $2.4 million, the lowest level since 2004.

Days on Market, Sales, $2,000,000, First Quarter,

2000-2011

Days on market for high-end properties sold during the first quarter of 2011 grew substantially to 577 days compared to 326 days for the first quarter of 2010. This is the highest first quarter average days on market in the scope of this report. For 2000-2009, the average days on market for sales in the first quarters of the year ranged from 99 to 342days.

Sales by Town, $2,000,000, First Quarter, 2000-2011

For the past few years the high-end market on Cape Cod has broadened as the perennial top markets have been perceived as being too expensive and as buyers have bid up the prices of special properties in other towns. While the volume in the first quarter of 2011 is small, the geographic spread continues to be broad. Cape Cod towns with high-end sales in the first quarter of 2011 include Harwich Port (2), Barnstable (Osterville) (1), Chatham (1), Falmouth (1), and Truro (1). In 2006, 10 of the 15 Cape Cod towns had high-end sales in the first quarter.

For additional information about the Cape Cod, MA Real Estate Market, or if you are interested in buying or selling real estate on Cape Cod, contact Stewart Young, syoung@landvest.com

Click to view Cape Cod Real Estate for Sale

The LandVest High-End Market Watch is a periodic review of select high-end markets in Maine, New Hamshire, Vermont, and the Adirondacks. Market Data is collected from Multiple Listing Services and do not include private listings. LandVest makes no representation as to the accuracy of this data, and therefore is not responsible for any actions taken as a result of use or reliance on this information.

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Apr

LandVest Featured Broker: Terrence Maitland, a Boston Area Record-Setting Realtor
By LandVest

LandVest is proud of its highly qualified team of real estate specialists who are dedicated to being the most knowledgeable in their field. Read these often and you are sure to see a pattern of individuals going above and beyond what others have attempted and never achieved.

Terrance Maitland, LandVest has served his clients well by consistently breaking residential sales records.

In over 20 years as a real estate broker in Boston, Brookline, Cambridge and the western suburbs of Boston, LandVest’s Terrence “Terry” Maitland has made a habit of setting real estate sales records.

Maitland achieved the sales record in Greater Boston with the $18.5 million sale of the Quincy Adams Shaw house in Brookline. That sale took place in 2001, and has not been bettered in over a decade. Besides owning the Greater Boston record and Brookline record, he continues to hold sales records in Cambridge, Belmont, Lincoln and Concord. He also has at one time or another held the sales records in Weston and Boston and expects his real estate efforts in these towns will pay off with new records within the next year or so.

Maitland has just introduced a potentially record-setting property to the marketplace in 5 Willow Road, Weston, MA 02493 (Click link for details). This magnificent California-style lodge, completed in 2004, was conceived as a large and comfortable house, and it succeeds in creating grand but livable spaces on a 13-acre parcel of land just minutes from downtown Boston. This property, offered at $18,750,000, has the potential to break local sales records.

Other top sales from Maitland’s portfolio:

Sears Road Brookline, MA 02445 Sold at $18,500,000 (record)
Goddard Avenue Brookline, MA 02445-7418 Sold at $6,900,000
Beacon Street, Boston, MA 02108 Sold at $8,550,000
Channing Place Cambridge, MA 02138 Sold at $5,900,000
Suffolk Road Chestnut Hill, MA 02467 Sold at $5,250,000
South Great Road Lincoln, MA 01773 Sold at $6,400,000 (record)
Winsor Way Weston, MA 02493 Sold at $8,200,000
Monument Street, Concord, MA 01742 Sold at $7,000,000 (record)
Kenmore Road, Belmont, MA 02178 Sold at $4,650,000 (record)
The Paine Estate, Weston, MA 02493 (land only) Sold at $20,000,000 (record)

The unusual aspect about Maitland’s market is that by specializing in just the very best high-end properties across a number of towns he is able to be more focused and more knowledgeable on what exists both on and off the high-end market in and around Boston. This heightened awareness proves valuable when sellers are interested in knowing the value of their home in the context of other high-end homes that have recently sold or are currently on the market or when buyers are searching for a home in Boston or within easy commute to Boston. Terry Maitland is one who possesses a database –like memory and can instantly recall pertinent and historic information at a moment’s notice.

Having over twenty years of experience in this market not only provides Maitland with an unsurpassed knowledge base, it has also woven him into a network of buyers whose families have benefited from his services. “I find it particularly rewarding when I earn the role as the family real estate advisor, working with the parents to sell their home, and later working with the children to help them find their dream home,” says Maitland. “Many of the houses we sold to our clients eight to ten years ago are coming back to us in this market cycle.”

Maitland’s experience with the highest-end properties in Greater Boston makes him a valuable advisor to Sellers and Buyers in the rarefied world of luxury real estate. Terry’s experience proves invaluable as showing, representing and negotiating unique properties at the top of the market, present unique challenges that require seasoned expertise and unrelenting attention to detail.

Click to view Terry Maitland’s contact information

Click to view Terry Maitland’s public real estate listings, call Terry to hear about those not yet on the market.

Click to view Real Estate in the Boston Area

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Apr

LandVest Launches Index to Track High-End Real Estate Sales
By LandVest

The LandVest Index of High-End Real Estate

LandVest, an exclusively high-end focused real estate firm based in New England, announces the creation of the LandVest Index. The LandVest index tracks high-end $2,000,000 plus real estate sales in Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Vermont, and the Adirondack region of New York. For 2010, the number of high-end sales across LandVest’s territory increased by 33% compared to 2009.

One of LandVest’s many record sales in 2010

However, compared to the peak year of 2007, high-end sales are still off by 26%. In 2010 there were 430 sales compared to 324 sales in 2009, and 582 sales in 2007. More detailed market reports including long-term trends in listings, sales, average and top sale prices, and days on market are being developed and are currently available (see Cape Cod Market Perspective) for Cape Cod and Middlesex County, Massachusetts (see Middlesex, MA Real Estate Market Report).

Stewart Young, LandVest’s Regional Manager for Cape Cod, also active in the western suburbs of Boston, developed the LandVest Index. According to Young, “2010 was a recovery year. We saw an increase in the number and scale of transactions across the high end markets. Looking into 2011, we are seeing increasing activity from buyers.” Citing the strong relationship of high end sales activity to stock market performance, Wall Street profitability, and the overall economy, he noted that the underlying conditions for the market appeared to be supportive of the high end real estate market.

According to Ruth Kennedy Sudduth, LandVest’s Director for Residential Brokerage, “LandVest is the leader in marketing luxury real estate and is unique among brokerage firms in being solely focused on special properties at the very top of their markets. This specialized expertise enables us to provide the best results for our clients. The LandVest Index will provide owners, buyers, and sellers of high-end real estate with an objective summary measure of performance in this specialized market segment”.

LandVest, founded in 1968, and headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts, is a leading brokerage firm for luxury real estate across New England. The firm provides advisory, brokerage, and timberland services. Exclusive affiliate of Christie’s International Real Estate, LandVest enjoys global reach through their affiliation with the global fine art auction house and their private network of high end real estate associates. Recent major transactions include:

The Wyck Estate, located in Manchester-by-the-sea sold in 2010

Advising in the recent private purchase of 1,000,000 acres of timberland in Maine,
Marketing and sale of Wyck, a waterfront chateau listed for $12.25 million in Manchester, MA.
Sale of a $15 million waterfront estate on Martha’s Vineyard
Record sale of the former Paley estate, Lochland, a Roaring 20’s Great Camp on Squam Lake.

For information about LandVest’s marketing of residential real estate, contact Ruth Kennedy Sudduth, 617-359-5584, rsudduth @landvest .com.

Click to view Extraordinary New England Real Estate for Sale

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