2021 Island real estate market continues to turn heads

The island real estate market continues to be scorching hot, eclipsing $2 billion in sales for the year. Town assessor Rob Ranney said he is still trying to wrap his head around what the market has been in 2021.

“The market has been defying explanation and expectation throughout 2021,” Ranney said. “I can’t think up enough superlative adjectives to describe it.”

The total dollar volume in sales was at around $2.03 billion through November 30. The $32.5 million sale of 42 Easton Street on Brant Point stands above any other sale this year on Nantucket and is the largest private home sale in island history.

“Every time I think I have seen it all, a new sale or a new listing comes across my desk and I struggle to understand it,” Ranney added.

The prior record for sales in a year was set last year ($1.9 billion). If you had told Ranney in 2019 that the island would set a record for total dollar volume in sales in back to back years in 2020 and 2021 respectively, he may not have believed you or thought that was possible.

“I actually saw the market slowing in 2019,” Ranney said. “Then when COVID-19 all but shut everything down in the spring of 2020, I thought we were in for a market correction or at least a prolonged downturn.”

Instead, what unfolded was the most explosive real estate market that Nantucket has ever witnessed beginning in the last half of 2020 all the way through 2021, Ranney explained.

“Having just crossed $2 billion in sales, it certainly feels like the market is ready for a breather and that we are at the peak,” Ranney said. “But that remains to be seen. The pace of sales has slowed somewhat, but the dollar volume is still quite high.”

Ranney believed in October that a strong fourth quarter that mirrored the second and third quarters of this year in terms of dollar volume would be enough to push Nantucket over the $2 billion mark for the first time in island history.

The island had already seen $1.468 billion switch hands through September, a 46 percent increase from that same time the year prior in 2020. The island’s sales were $350 million in the first quarter; $533 million in the second quarter; and $584 million in the third quarter. The island’s sales through the fourth quarter so far are at approximately $561 million.

With less than one month remaining in the final quarter, it is unlikely the island will eclipse the $887 million in sales made during the final quarter of 2020 in this year’s fourth quarter despite already breaking last year’s record. Ranney said in his opinion, it is only a matter of time before the market calms down.

“Personally I think we will see the market slowing down, or perhaps gradually returning to pre-pandemic normalcy as COVID-19 wanes and real estate buyers are no longer looking for the safe haven that Nantucket provides,” he said.



The Land Bank has made over $40 million dollars as a result of these sales thanks to the two percent transfer tax, which is used by the Land Bank to acquire, hold, and manage important open space resources across the island for use and enjoyment by the general public.