What goes up must come down, we’ve been taught, except apparently when it comes to high-end home sales in the Ocean State.
Last year was the eighth consecutive in Rhode Island in which the number of homes selling for at least $1 million increased. But last year’s 698 sales – 45% higher than 2020 and more than double 2019 sales – dwarfed anything on record collected by the Rhode Island Association of Realtors.
While some markets nationally are expecting the pace of record-high sales of the past two years to slow, as this week’s cover story reports that’s not necessarily the case locally.
One reason is that roughly half of the buyers of high-end homes in Rhode Island continue to come from out of state. That means that as high as prices have climbed here – the $9 million top sale in 2018 wouldn’t have made the top 10 last year – they are still lower than comparable markets nationally.
And the pandemic-fueled desire of some buyers to escape congested areas has not abated, according to local Realtors, which increases the attraction of Rhode Island’s coastal properties.
The broader housing market may finally cool at least a bit later this year due to rising interest rates. But local Realtors don’t expect that to affect high-end sales, which often involve all-cash transactions.
Rather than fewer buyers in 2022, the biggest threat to the rising local market is there not being enough properties for sale to meet demand.
Some Realtors have even taken to cold-calling recent clients to drum up sellers, a sign the local high-end market still has room to run.