February 4, 2025
This Mass. town has one of the hottest luxury real estate markets

Cape Cod may be frigid this time of year (usually), but its real estate market is anything but. The popular New England vacation destination is home to one of the hottest luxury real estate markets in the United States, a report Realtor.com released Tuesday found.

According to the report, Barnstable offers some of the most sought-after luxury homes of any community in the country. 

“The combination of picturesque villages, scenic lighthouses, and lobster rolls — plus all those white-sand beaches — made the hook-shaped peninsula a particularly attractive destination during the pandemic,” the report said of Cape Cod. 

Barnstable has the sixth-hottest luxury market, according to the report, which looked at how long the most expensive 1 percent of homes in a region were on the market. The median list price for the 1 percent in Barnstable was $15.9 million, well above the national median of $5.5 million. 

That median is up 16.6 percent year over year, thanks to low mortgage rates, remote workers, early retirements, and a pandemic-fueled desire for bigger homes with more open space, according to the report. 

To reach its rankings, the website examined the luxury properties for sale in January, how long they were on the market, and how many unique viewers looked at them online. Only the most expensive 1 percent of homes in these markets were considered. The cite noted: “The concept of luxury real estate is somewhat in the eye of the beholder — and the marketplace. A high-end home in parts of the Southeast or Midwest might barely make it as a starter home in the priciest areas of the coasts.”

A second New England city also made the list: Portland, Maine, nabbed the No. 8 spot, with a median price tag of $4.9 million for the most expensive 1 percent of homes in the area. That number may soon rise, however. Prices for luxury homes in the coastal city saw a 27 percent jump in January, the report said. 

Here are all the cities that made the list: 

  1. Kahului, Hawaii 
  2. San Luis Obispo, Calif.
  3. Sebastian, Fla.
  4. Hilton Head Island, S.C.
  5. Wilmington, N.C.
  6. Barnstable
  7. Austin
  8. Portland, Maine
  9. Salt Lake City
  10. Prescott, Ariz.

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