I’m sure if you’re like most people you’re wondering about the Real Estate Market in 2019 right here on Martha’s Vineyard. Even more importantly, how the market conditions may affect you going into 2020.
I thought it would be great to recap what happened and make comparisons to the previous year, 2018. Let’s start with the Island wide statistics. According to statistics from the Multiple Listing Service, LINK MV, we had 387 homes that were sold in 2019 and 424 in 2018. This is 37 less sales, which is about a 9% decrease in the number of homes sold on the Island.
The average days on market was 248 – up by 42 days from 2018. This is important information because if you are a seller, you will need to understand that it may take some time to sell and you may need to be open to price reductions.
Average selling price was just over $1.7M, which is a 32% INCREASE from 2018. Since 2015, we’ve only seen slight increases or decreases, so this is quite significant. However, if you look at sales over 10 million dollars, it shows that this is the most likely reason for such a big jump in average price. There were 6 sales over 10 million in 2019, while 2018 only had two. The Median selling price of $875,000 is just up 9% from 2018.
Now, let’s look at Edgartown. In 2019 there were 118 homes that sold and 148 sold in 2018, this is a 21% decrease in the number of homes selling in Edgartown. The average selling price was just about 2.6 million in 2019 and about 1.8 million in 2018. So, 30 less sales but a 48% increase in the average selling price.
So what does this all mean? The good news is that we did not see home prices decrease. But, here’s what we need to look at, and what is interesting. We had many years where home prices were going up at staggering prices, quite frankly at alarming increases. The lower priced homes are going to continue to be purchased quickly if they are priced well. Sales at the highest end of the market are continuing and actually went up significantly in 2019. That leaves the middle price ranges and this is where we see the market climate changing the most. Adjustments may need to be made, expectations need to be more realistic, and lastly, if you are Selling you may want to consider doing more to your home to get it ready to sell so that you’ll attract more buyers.
It also means that it’s now more important than ever to hire an experienced Realtor who knows how to properly market your home and expose it to as many potential buyers as possible.
