03-07-2025
Amid uncertainty elsewhere, Cape Cod luxury real estate market takes off
The wild ride in stock and bond markets over the past few months may have wealthy investors thinking of more stable places to put their money -- like real estate, said Paul Grover, co-founder and principal broker of Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Robert Paul Properties in Osterville.
Sales of homes above $2 million jumped 35 percent in approximately the first five months of the year compared to the same period year ago, to 99 from 73 in 2024.
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The gyrating financial markets, Grover said, 'put people in the frame of mind that luxury real estate or real estate on Cape Cod was probably a very solid place to be invested.'
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The luxury market has also proven resistant to two factors weighing on the broader real estate market: high interest rates and high prices.
Most luxury buyers can pay cash, so the prospects of higher monthly mortgage payments have less of an impact on luxury sales. And because the buyers are, well, rich, price is less of an object.
'If you just think about the profile of a buyer at that price point of a home, they're generally pretty insulated from some of the things that impact the majority of the public,' said Betsy Hanson, CEO of the Cape Cod and Islands Association of Realtors.
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The East Falmouth property with a recent accepted offer at 2 Bridge Street.
Sotheby's International Realty
The biggest share of buyers live driving distance from the Cape, Grover said. Most are from Massachusetts, generally living in Boston or its suburbs. Another sizable portion comes from Connecticut or New York. Historically, buyers from Philadelphia and Cleveland also have been well represented in certain enclaves of the Cape.
But recently, Grover said, an increasing number of affluent homebuyers come far away, such as Texans looking to escape the extreme summer
heat and Californians seeking property in a place less prone to wildfires.
'Even at the top end of our market, our prices look really appealing to them, and they're used to a higher price point,' he said of buyers coming from especially pricey markets, such as southern California.
Luxury prices tend to start in the $2 million to $5 million range, depending on location, Grover said. Last June, he
Luxury properties on the Cape tend to be vacation homes, not primary residences, that don't see much use beyond July and August. Most are walking distance from a town center or a beach, if not waterfront.
$2,845,000 property in Falmouth at 33 Wood Neck Rd.
Sotheby's International Realty
Cape Cod luxury home prices tend to increase gradually, Grover said, but the COVID-19 pandemic caused prices across the local real estate market to skyrocket, with some doubling in value. Median sale prices for single-family homes
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'People wondered, would these new prices hold?' Grover said. 'And in fact, they have.'
The Cape has been fairly insulated compared to other US real estate markets. For example, median single-family home sale prices dropped about 3 percent in Austin, Texas in April and about 4 percent in Tampa-St. Petersburg, Fla. compared to a year earlier, according to local real estate data.
The median single-family home price on the Cape rose slightly in April, to about $798,000 from $795,000 a year earlier, according to the Cape Cod Realtors association.
Unlike these other markets, where building boomed in recent years, the housing supply on the Cape remains tight while demand stays strong.
'Some other areas of the country might be seeing that there are some market corrections happening,' Hanson said, 'and we aren't necessarily seeing that bear out here.'
Stella Tannenbaum can be reached at
