Market Highlights
HIGH-END $2,000,000+ MARKET HIGHLIGHTS
- Inventory down 20% (180 vs 226 last year).
- Sales volume up 18% (record 154 vs 131 last year).
- Top sale: $11,000,000 – 47 Sea View Avenue, Osterville.
- Cape Cod’s high-end market continues to perform strongly despite record low inventories.
- COVID-driven demand for refuge and home-work balance remains a factor in the market, as does the strong stock market. As usual, special properties, expertly presented, reaching out to a broad market with a strong value proposition, will have a competitive advantage.
Active Listings
At the end of the third quarter of 2021, the high-end inventory decreased by 20% to 180 listings compared to 226 last year and the record of 283 listings in 2015. Historically speaking, the inventory is significantly lower than the ten-year average of 241 listings. Inventories began decreasing in the second quarter of 2020, and continued to decrease through the year, paralleled by a dramatic growth in sales.
High-End Sales
Sales volume was up 18% with a record 154 sales compared to a record 131 sales in the first three quarters of 2020 and the ten-year average of 83 sales. The Cape high-end market has been strong since 2012, breaking the annual 100 sales barrier for the first time in 2018 and finishing 2020 with 226 high-end sales. If the COVID-driven demand for refuge properties and a work-from-home lifestyle continues as signaled by a backlog of 74 properties under agreement, 2021 promises to be another record-breaking year.
Q1-Q3 – Top Sale
Property: 47 Sea View Avenue • Town: Osterville • Selling price: $11,000,000
1900s classic 0.82-acre oceanfront family compound with award-winning 2018 renovation,
two carriage houses, listed at $13,500,000.
Highest & Median Sale
Days on Market
Days on market for high-end sales in the first three quarters decreased to 202 from 345 last year, a ten-year record low, and significantly below the ten-year average of 339. The range in days on market is wide, from 1 to 1,609.
Sales by Town
In the first three quarters of 2021, 14 of the 15 towns on Cape Cod had sales at the $2,000,000+ level. The four leading towns (Chatham, Barnstable [mostly Osterville, 16 of 36 sales], Mashpee, and Orleans) together had 101 or 66% of the sales, compared to 80 sales last year, and a ten-year average of 50 sales. Mashpee and Orleans are particularly noticeable with 14 sales each in the first three quarters compared to a ten-year average of 6 and 7 sales, respectively.
W Falmouth | 229 Acres | $14,500,000
Mattapoisett, MA | $3,500,000
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