No end in sight for the high end housing market
The Sunday Providence Journal, February 3, 2008 by Christine Dunn, Journal Staff Writer
Overall the statistics for Rhode Island real estate last year show a weakened market: rising foreclosures, fewer sales and sinking prices. But for a select group of Rhode Island real estate agents who specialize in selling high-end coastal properties, 2007 was a very good year.
Compared to its performance in 2006, Lila Delman Real Estate's dollar volume was up 40 percent, the number of units sold was up 15 percent, and the average price per unit was up 11 percent last year, according to John Hodnett, principal broker of the company.
Based in coastal areas in southern Rhode Island, the company has offices in Jamestown, Narragansett, Newport and Westerly. Melanie Delman, daughter of the late company founder, Lila Delman, alone sold about $57 million worth of real estate last year, according to Hodnett.
The agency scored one of the most high-profile sales of the past two years: the Gray Craig Estate near Second Beach in Middletown, purchased by actor Nicolas Cage for $15.7 million...
..."It could be a completely different world up in Providence and Cranston," Hodnett said. "There are pockets that are really horrible...but even within this state, there are pockets that are holding their own."
"The people in this market still have money, and that's the key," Hodnett said. "They still are very rich..."
..."Buyers aren't waving money at properties," Hodnett said. "You're not looking at bidding wars...There's a lot of work to get these people comfortable that they're doing the right thing...But the money is still out there."
Looking ahead to next year and beyond, amid fears of a recession, even high-end brokers and agents don't take their success for granted. "I know that we're going to have to dig and fight for every sale this year," Hodnett said.
Although the subprime fallout on Wall Street is a concern, Delman is looking beyond New York for buyers. "We're really starting to work the overseas market, Hodnett said. The weakness of the dollar in relation to the Euro makes Rhode Island prices look like a bargain to well-heeled Europeans, he said.
As an example, Hodnett pointed to one of his company's new listings, Oakwood, a Newport mansion owned by Philadelphia developer J. Brian O'Neill, listed at $10.75 million.
Oakwood, which was once owned by the Astor family, was "was thrown in as part of the package" when O'Neill bought the Carnegie Abbey Club in Portsmouth from British entrepeneur Peter de Savary, according to Linda Phillips, aspokesman for Delman.
Hodnett said the Irish Times just featured Oakwood in a story that marveled at its bargain price. Oakwood would cost about 5 million Euros, he said, and a brick house in Dublin, which he likened in style and location to Blackstone Boulevard in Providence, was recently featured in the same paper priced at 55 million Euros.
"We think that's going to be a wave that's going to help push things," he said"...It's always good when people on Wall Street are making money...[but] it's not like we're relying on Wall Street."
The Sunday Providence Journal, February 3, 2008
Christine Dunn, Journal Staff Writer
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