In the Middle Ages, when a fever was sweeping the streets of the city, those with means often retreated to the cool of the countryside to escape the infection. But in this frenzied spring for home buying, even the luxury buyers seems to have caught the bug – bidding wars are spreading to all price ranges and markets as luxury homes sales are on a pace to record their best totals in half a decade.
Traditionally, high-end properties tend to stay on the market much longer than mid-range or starter homes, as both buyers and sellers have the resources to hold out for the property or the price they really want, and are less likely to be in a rush to secure a mortgage at a given interest rate.
But in this torrid spring for home sales, even high-end buyers appear to be feeling the pressure to close due to constrained inventory, with agents reporting multiple bids a common occurrence in the million-plus range.
“We have trickled up all year,” said Debi Benoit, co-broker/owner of Benoit, Mizner, Simon & Co. Real Estate, which has offices in Wellesley and Weston. “At first it was only properties under $800,000 where we were seeing multiple offers – and then it went under $1.2 [million], then under $1.5 [million]. And now it’s kind of getting to the point where under $2 million we’re starting to see a lot of activity.”
Preliminary totals for April sales as tabulated by The Warren Group, publisher of Banker & Tradesman, suggest the past month will be the highest total for $1 million-plus single-family home sales since 2008. While the final tally is not yet rung, the 94 $1 million-plus condo sales recorded in April are the highest total for that month in more than 10 years and the second highest single sales month for luxury condos since August 2003, which had 117 $1 million-plus sales.
‘Over The Asking’
Gail Roberts, an agent with Coldwell Banker in Cambridge, says she’s seen a decline in high-end inventory in her territory, and it’s causing some tough conversations with buyers.
“If you’ve been looking for a year, year and s half, and something comes up, you are going to want to run and jump,” she said. “I advised clients the other day that you’re going to have to go over asking on a $3 million-plus [property] …. Even if they’ve got discretion [on whether to buy], they don’t want to lose it.”
In Hammond Residential Real Estate’s eastern Massachusetts territory, sales of homes over $2 million are up 27 percent year to date, including 24 in April alone, while million-plus sales are up 19.9 percent year to date, said Mark Lippolt, senior vice president of operations for Hammond.
“April 2013 was the best April for million-dollar sales since I began tracking the data in 2006,” he wrote in an email. Lippolt is advising his branch managers to seek out former sellers who may have listed in 2010 and 2011 but pulled out of the market when they couldn’t get the price they wanted, saying the time is ripe to lure them out of their shells.
It’s not only the Hub and its spokes which have seen a revival. The Cape and Islands are also seeing brisk sales.
“We do still have some inventory, and we’re not really seeing five offers the day it comes on the market that you’re seeing in the Boston area, which I think is a little healthier in a way,” said Paul Gover, co-broker/owner of Robert Paul Properties in Osterville. “We went through a period where there were so few sales that it was hard for buyers and sellers to get a real fix on where the market was at. Now we’ve kind of established a new benchmark.”
Grover said he too has seen formerly disappointed sellers moving back into the market this year. “There are people who had been thinking about it, maybe were talking to us a year, year and a half ago, and now they’re comfortable with putting their house on the market,” he said.
Email: csullivan@thewarrengroup.com
