Spring has arrived on Nantucket with longer days, sunshine with some warmth in it, lots of daffodils poking up around the island and the forsythia coming into bloom just in time for Daffodil Weekend. There is a sense of optimism on Nantucket and we feel much more confident heading into this season than we did one year ago at this time. The number of vacation rentals are up significantly, usually a harbinger of the sales market activity.
The statistics for the first quarter of 2011 are in, and there were 62 sales; exactly the same as 2010. The dollars that those sales represent were $74 million, down from $108 million for the same period in 2010. The dollars have declined largely due to the number of foreclosure sales at the lower end of the market. Last year ended up being much stronger than anticipated with a total of 309 properties sold for $694 million, a vast improvement over 2008 and 2009. And it is likely that 2011 will exceed 2010 both in the number of sales and dollars, given the current pending sales. Market News Spring 2011