The 2,625-square-foot property on Sheep Pond Road was first listed in September for nearly $2.3 million, still below the median sale price of $3.2 million on Nantucket. But after the shoreline lost a stunning 70 feet to erosion in just a matter of weeks, putting the home at imminent risk, the price plunged to $600,000 by year’s end.
A longtime visitor to Nantucket, Brendan Maddigan, who lives in New York, toyed with owning a summer home there for his young family for years. He regularly scanned the market and bookmarked links to a half-dozen properties, including the house on Sheep Pond Road. When he got an alert the price had nosedived, he submitted an all-cash offer, and in February the home was his.
From growing up in Woods Hole and now working for a real estate investment firm in New York City, Maddigan, 42, said he is clear-eyed about the risks, especially as sea levels rise and storms become more intense.
“The home is amazing. The location is amazing. And the price mitigates the risk to a good degree,” he said. “I’d like to think that it’ll be there for a while, but I was definitely aware of the risk of any particular storm causing a problem in the future.”
The Nantucket Current was the first to report the news of the sale.
Real estate agents and climate experts said the stunning price drop illustrates how much climate change has affected the housing market in coastal communities.
Properties in certain areas may be permanently devalued. Insurance companies may increasingly refuse to cover threatened homes. Some people will sell, unwilling to lose their home to the sea, and others will jump at the price, no matter how high the risk.
On Nantucket, the coastline has always been under siege, but homes falling victim to erosion will “start happening more and more,” said Shelly Lockwood, a real estate broker on the island who believes it’s crucial for potential buyers to be informed about the threats. “Homes in certain areas, homes on certain streets, are going to go down in value. That’s inevitable.”
Lockwood, who did not handle the sale of the $600,000 home, said the market has been slow to adjust to the new landscape. There are three other estates on Sheep Pond Road on the market, the least expensive of which is listed for almost $3 million. All three, she predicts, are “going to fall in” the ocean.
“But the real estate world on Nantucket is going at these at-risk houses house by house, as though they’re anomalies,” Lockwood said. “When if you talk to [the Nantucket Coastal Resilience Advisory Committee] there are literally hundreds of houses at risk.”
A number of homes on Nantucket have already been lost. Billionaire Barry Sternlicht’s beach house is slated for demolition because of significant erosion, the Current reported. A home near Maddigan’s was demolished in October after losing approximately 35 feet of dune in a matter of months. More than a decade ago, another house on Sheep Pond Road lost its battle with the tides, and parts of the road were washed away multiple times — including in 2003, 2010, and 2021.
When Lynn Tidgwell purchased the Sheep Pond Road property in March 2021 for $1.65 million, according to town records, it was more than 100 feet from the top of a coastal bank. A geological study estimated the home would last at least two decades, if not more, at the current rate of erosion.
“I took the gamble due to the magnificent beauty of the location,” Tidgwell said.
But over the next two years, the land around the house was whittled away. In need of more space for her family, she decided to sell it in July after losing about 15 feet of backyard. Hurricane Lee swallowed up another 20 feet in September, and an incredible 70 feet was lost between then and December, she said.
“This rate of erosion was not typical,” Tidgwell said by email. “Therefore, I dropped the price significantly in the knowledge that any prospective buyer was taking a risk.”
Leah Hill, Nantucket’s climate resilience coordinator, said some property lines on the island are now fully underwater.
If the town fails to reduce coastal risks from now through 2070, nearly 2,400 structures are at risk from coastal flooding and erosion, with annual damages estimated at $3.4 billion, Hill said by email.
Based on these findings, Nantucket developed a coastal resilience plan, which…
Read More: Climate change may transform Nantucket’s real estate market