MANCHESTER — While foreclosures and the mortgage crisis plague national real estate, the North Shore luxury real estate market continues to thrive. Recently, a record-breaking estate sale was made in Manchester, and other high-end properties are being bought and sold at princely prices.
Last month, the oceanfront Crow Island estate, which is on an isolated Ocean Street peninsula, became the most expensive home sale on the North Shore at $11.5 million. According to the Multiple Listing Service, it was the highest residential sale in Massachusetts this year to date, and it holds the record for biggest residential sale on the North Shore. The estate was first listed in February at $14.6 million.
The previous record-holder for the North Shore was also from Manchester — the Seahome estate on Boardman Avenue, which went on the market at $17.75 million and eventually sold in August 2007 for $11 million.
Holly Fabyan, listing agent for Crow Island, said while the percentage drop in the price was large, it was what drew interested people in and brought about a quick deal. She said many luxury estates are on the market for over a year, if not three or four.
"The fact that we sold it in almost nine months was pretty quick," she said.
Despite the reduction, the selling price was still well above the property's 2008 assessed value of $8,177,800.
Crow Island is just one example of the luxury parcels that are being bought and sold in the midst of the economic downturn.
The Spindrift estate, which is on a bluff overlooking Singing Beach, is currently under agreement. The listed price on the J. Barrett and Co. real estate Web site is slightly less than $7.5 million. Also, the Seagate estate, an eight-bedroom mansion on Smith's Point, is currently on the market at $11.5 million.
Fabyan said the high end of the real estate market has remained "strong and steady" over the past two years. She called the North Shore a "bubble world," and said area real estate has been maintaining its value and hasn't been strongly affected by the broader housing slump.
Statewide, the number of single-family home sales are down 16.7 percent for the year to date when compared to last year, according to the Warren Group. However, there was a slight bump in the number of single-family home sales in September, when there was an 8.5 percent increase compared to September 2007. It is the first increase seen this year; all other months have seen reductions, most in the double-digits, when compared to the same time last year.
Also, the median price of single family homes dropped below $300,000 in September for the first time since 2003.
But area listing agents see a silver lining in the grim financial news.
"Not all is doom," said Lanse Robb, listing agent for the Wyck estate in Manchester. "Smart people know the world is not going to end. Smart people know they can get good deals on properties they probably couldn't afford before."
The Wyck estate, a nearly 8-acre oceanfront compound with a carriage house and replica French chateau, was originally listed for $23.5 million. Now, after being on the market for a few years, it is listed at $13.7 million for the main house and $2.5 million for the carriage house.
Robb said Wyck has been drawing offers and is set to be the next record-breaker, even after the price cut.
He said estates currently on the market will be worth even more when the financial mess clears, and in the future the price paid will seem relatively cheap for the real estate purchased. The result is what he called "once in a lifetime" opportunities to buy estates.
"It's a phenomenal time if you're able to do this — to buy a Crow island or buy a Wyck — and people are doing it," he said.
Fabyan also views the current slump as an opportunity.
"Basically it is the best time to buy," Fabyan said. "Anybody that can afford to buy — now is the perfect time."
In the case of Crow Island, buyer Ernst H. Vonmetzch, a member of the board of directors for Hess Corp., got a six-bedroom mansion with views of Kettle Cove and a separate three-bedroom carriage house with an office and yoga studio — all well below the original listing price.
The previous owner, Jeffrey Cunningham, bought the estate in 1999 for $6 million. Cunningham sits on the board of directors for Countrywide Financial, the country's largest mortgage lender. He is also the chief executive officer of a company that publishes Directorship Magazine, which caters to corporate executives.
Staff writer Patrick Anderson contributed to this story. Amanda Flitter can be reached at gt_reporter@gloucestertimes.com.
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