RESIDENTIAL SALES ACTIVITY BY PRICE POINT
RESIDENTIAL SALES ACTIVITY: 2017 v. 2016 & 5-YEAR AVERAGE
Strong Year For High-End & Ultra-High-End
Overall, there were 299 single-family home sales (excluding condos, multi-family homes, co-ops & Nantucket covenant properties) in 2017, one transaction shy of 2016. Dollar volume rose 7 percent thanks to an increase in higher price point sales. Fisher has been reporting this trend all year but now, with nearly a full 12 months of data, we see just how home sales by price point have changed, both year-to-year and from the five-year average.
The price points with the biggest shifts were the sub-$1 million price point, which saw the most significant decline (down 10 percentage points of total transaction activity from the 5-year average and five percentage points from 2016), and the $2 million to $3 million price point, which rose five percentage points from both the 2016 and five-year average.
More subtly, the high-end of the market ($5MM+) saw a one percentage point rise across nearly every $1 million pricing segment from the five-year average. There were nine transactions in the ultra-high-end of the market ($10MM+), the highest number of annual sales in Nantucket’s history (previous annual record was eight transactions).
HOME SALES: 5-YEAR SALES DISCOUNT & TIMING TRENDS
Surprising Metrics in $6MM – $7MM Home Sales
This chart measures the average selling price (to the last asking price) and average days on market by price point over a five-year period. Not surprisingly, homes that sold for less than $2 million enjoyed among the lowest marketing times and smallest discounts for the group.
What’s interesting is the relatively significant rise in the average marketing time for home sales between $5 million and $6 million. This ties with the data released in our October report which showed that inventory in this price point doubled in 2017 compared to available inventory the previous two years. However, the lengthier average days on market in this price point has been consistently longer than other price points over the 5-year period suggesting demand is simply lower no matter the supply of available inventory (ie 16 $4MM-$5MM sales in 2017 but just eight $5MM-$6MM home sales).
Perhaps most surprisingly is that the lowest average discount and shortest marketing time by price point was for homes sold between $6 million and $7 million. This is largely attributed to 2017 sales activity as there were seven properties that sold with an average marketing time of 23 days (five of these were speculative homes) which significantly lowered the five-year average. [In any given year, there are between 0-2 transactions in the $9MM-$10MM price point so the metrics vary dramatically compared to other price points).