Home prices on Massachusetts’ “Billionaire Island” are in free fall due to the growing threat of beach erosion and water damage, real estate agents warn.
Million-dollar mansions on Nantucket Island are seeing their prices slashed by as much as $1 million due to rising sea levels and severe beach erosion, putting the homes at risk of being washed away.
Nantucket, 30 miles south of Cape Cod, has become a popular vacation destination for a host of high-profile personalities in recent years, including Joe Biden and Kourtney Kardashian. It is also famous for being the setting for Henry Melville’s film “Moby Dick.”
But the figures of Real estate agent.com List prices for homes in the area fell 5.8 percent to $4.595 million in the year through May.
DailyMail.com found a 4,522 square foot property located in Water street Its price has been reduced by almost a million dollars.
Home prices on Massachusetts’s “Billionaire Island” (pictured) are in free fall due to the growing threat of beach erosion and water damage.
A 2,628-square-foot property that underwent a significant price reduction of $755,000 is located on Main Street
This luxurious 10-bedroom, 10-bathroom mansion is a historic gem built in 1812 and still retains many of its original details such as raised panel siding, four-panel doors with antique hardware, and wide pine and fir floors.
It also features multiple fireplaces, raised-panel interior shutters, and multiple cast-iron claw-foot tubs, as well as a walk-in roof.
However, the home has been listed on Zillow for about 130 days with no buyer in sight. It is currently priced at $4,850,000.
Another 2,628 square foot property that suffered a significant price reduction of $755,000 is located in Main Street.
The four-bedroom, four-bathroom single-family residence is considered one of the most charming homes on the cobblestone street.
Priced at $5,995,000, the home is just steps from the shore and features a patio and garden.
Despite its location and structure, the home has been listed for sale for nearly 100 days on Zillow.
Real estate agent.com Economist Hannah Jones said: “The rise in inventories suggests demand has faded in the area.
‘Buyers looking for a home in an area facing serious climate-related risks can expect sales prices to adjust accordingly.
“When these risks are at the forefront of buyers’ minds, homes are likely to remain on the market longer and those that do sell may fetch a lower sales price.”
Another 2,628-square-foot property that has seen a significant price cut of $755,000 is located on Main Street.
This marks a surprising reversal of fortunes for a previously booming property market.
Nantucket’s annual population is 14,000, but during the summer months it increases to 80,000. Business Insider reports.
President Joe Biden spends Thanksgiving with his family on Nantucket every year. In 2023, his family stayed at the $34 million home of his billionaire friend David Rubenstein.
Meanwhile, Kourtney Kardashian shelled out $6,628 per night for her family and friends to vacation at a $50 million property on the island in 2020, according to PeopleShe also rented a huge property to spend the holidays with her children throughout July 2017.
Naomi Biden posted a photo of the family participating in a Nantucket tradition: the Cold Turkey Plunge on Thanksgiving. From left to right: Peter Neal, Little Hunter, Baby Beau, Hunter Biden, President Biden, Maizy Biden, Naomi Biden, Ashley Biden, Finnegan Biden and Natalie Biden
However, the island has been plagued by increasingly harsh winters that have brought with them strong storms and high winds, which have washed away sand from beaches and contributed to erosion. This is a phenomenon that is hurting coastal real estate markets across the United States.
Billionaire Barry Sternlicht’s Nantucket beach house had to be demolished due to erosion earlier this year.
According Business InsiderHe had purchased 289 Hummock Pond Road for $610,000 in 2010 at a foreclosure sale.
In 2019, Sternlicht purchased 287 Hummock Pond Road for $1.3 million.
But due to 60 feet of erosion caused by Hurricanes Paulette and Teddy in 2020, both properties suffered severe damage and the city ordered the demolition of one of the two homes on the land.
The other was placed on steel beams, where it remained until it was demolished in April 2024.
Many potential buyers have become even more reluctant to purchase property or land after billionaire Barry Sternlicht’s Nantucket beach house had to be demolished due to erosion earlier this year.
Sternlicht had purchased 289 Hummock Pond Road for $610,000 in 2010 at a foreclosure sale. In 2019, Sternlicht purchased 287 Hummock Pond Road for $1.3 million
Local architect and Sternlicht representative Matt MacEachern said Nantucket Historic District Commission: ‘Her house was scheduled to be moved about four years ago, then there was significant erosion, a storm that resulted in over 30 feet of erosion.
“But there were basically no options because the entire land was eroded. We spoke to several companies about trying to move the structure and they told us it was simply not possible.”
Shelly Lockwood of real estate advisory firm Advisors Living, whose family moved to Nantucket in the 1970s and lives there year-round, also commentedPeople call me all the time and say, “That’s a great house,” and it is. But whether they should buy it or not is another story.
‘I tell them, “If you can afford to lose the money (and some people can), then buy the house. If you’re comfortable with (owning the house) for one, five, or ten years (it probably won’t be ten), then go ahead and buy it. But you can’t believe it’s going to last.”
