Cape Cod Buyers ‘Wait For Prices To Come Down’
The Boston Globe follows up on yesterdays’ MAR report. “Cape Cod’s housing market was hit harder by declining home sales last year than any other Massachusetts region, as buyers held back in hopes that prices for vacation homes would drop. Sales of single-family homes on the Cape fell 14.5 percent, to 3,986 in 2005 from 4,633 in 2004.”
“The Cape was more sensitive to rising interest rates and economic disruptions, such as higher oil prices, because purchases of retirement and vacation homes, the biggest segment of that market, are entirely discretionary. While a growing family may have no choice but to move into a larger home or baby boomer couples may be anxious to downsize, buyers of second homes have nothing but time.”
“‘They were saying, ‘We’re going to wait for prices to come down, and we’re not going to buy until they do,’ said Laura Usher, a real estate agentin Brewster. Buyers ‘got very savvy,’ she said.”
“James Crocker, the president of The Cape & Islands Association of Realtors, said the reason houses aren’t moving as fast is that sellers refuse to drop their asking prices to reflect a weaker market. Some sellers, defying their agents’ advice and analyses of their local markets or recent sales in their neighborhoods, insist on putting higher asking prices on their homes, he said.”
“‘The buyers are willing, ready, and able,’ said Crocker, an agent in Osterville. ‘We just need more fairly-priced properties to ignite the market.’”
“Last year’s housing market got off to a terrible start due to 100 inches of snowfall on the Cape, causing sales to plunge nearly 24 percent in the first quarter, compared with the same quarter in 2004. After a 17 percent drop in the second quarter, summertime sales rebounded. But sales fell again, by 18 percent, in the fourth quarter.”
‘The supply of homes for sale is more abundant, as owners chose to sell before the prices fall, Ms. Perry said. In some cases, families who have owned second homes in the area for two or three generations are selling now because they can no longer afford the real estate taxes, she said.’
1987 CAP COD was first in the tank- seems like old times
Let’s remember:
Real estate is inherently illiquid.
And vacation homes are REALLY illiquid!
Notice how quickly the agents come around to reality. They don’t get paid if there’s no deal. They may not like the new reality, but it costs them money to ignore it.
Right. I pointed out the other day that in report after report, it is the realtors who are saying sellers need to get realistic.
they keep spinning at reality times- sellers fault !
?? are we coming down faster than 1989 ?
? the permits thing could be weather
someone mentioned TV shows
hgTV is always saying tight market ,bid higher
WAKE UP ! those shows seem really outdated now
I’m hoping for a price crash at Maine and NH ski areas too. There’s tons of hidden inventory owned by builders.
I’d LOVE to see the CT/NJ/NYC slimers get burned in the 1st degree on this. We’ve been over run here in VT by the scum.
I lived in ME for 30 years and can appreciate your words. I’m temporarily back in the land of the savages (MA) watching over elderly parents. Southern New Englanders w/ their $100k salaried cops can s*ck my d___.
hd74man, I forgot to mention the obligatory MassHoles. Strangely enough, I have some tolerance for them. CT/NJ/NYC slime? Forget it. They have no idea how many of us natives HATE them. Yes…. hate is a powerful word. But no more powerful than the utter contempt we hold for the money grubbing slimeballs.
me wish the white man return to land of england and leave us red men in new england. should not have taught them the fish in the ground trick and let them starve
signed, squanto
original masshole
Hey Squanto-You need to get on your legislator’s azz, and repeal this copper extra detail crap, to prevent these jerk-off’s from retiring at 45 with $80k pensions and then bailin’ to ME to drive all the recreational lakefront values beyond anything the locals can afford.
As VT lingus notes-We in the North country-hate you!!!!
Rich Toscano of Piggington fame has a new article up at Voice of San Diego.
No Skin in the Game
San Diego’s newest home buyers have little equity and therefore little reason to stay in their homes if the going gets tough. That could make a bad situation worse.
Interesting and very true article. Next problem we have is w/ people being told to do 100% financing because they can simply walk away from house without fear of a deiciency judgement in California.
With the way property insurance rates are escalating, you got to be on serious drugs to buy property on the Cape. One major typhoon, and it’s over.
People don’t need insurance, that’s what our tax dollars are for.
Typhoons? Aren’t those only in the Pacific? On the Cape you have to worry about hurricanes.
sfjack-I was metaphorically speaking…If a Class V hurricane hits the Cape, the results will be the same as a typhoon hitting any island in the Pacific.
“‘They were saying, ‘We’re going to wait for prices to come down, and we’re not going to buy until they do,’ said Laura Usher, a real estate agentin Brewster. Buyers ‘got very savvy,’ she said.”
Buyers know that housing in many places is 30% overpriced, compared to rents or incomes. Buyers also know that prices will tend to overshoot somewhat on the way down. So why would anyone buy at current prices?
Sellers need to realize this and lower their prices. If they don’t, then their houses will sit for years, and inflation will erode the value. One way or another, real prices *will* come down.
If property is still selling on the cape, the only thing I can figure is that there are people w/ a lot of disposable income and they just don’t mind paying. The cape has become so expensive, it is kinda that way already anyway.
“‘The buyers are willing, ready, and able,’ said Crocker, an agent in Osterville. ‘We just need more fairly-priced properties to ignite the market.’”
HHHaaaaahhhha, “ignite the market”, LMAO. The only thing that will be ignitable in the next 10 years will be the gas from his ass.
me wish white man stay in old england and leave new england to us red men. wish never taught them the fish in ground trick and they starve.
signed, squanto
original masshole tribe
It looks like I’m living in someones head……. rent free.