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Maine home sells for record $9M: York County’s 2023 top 10 sales.
YORK COUNTY, Maine — Of the ten top home sales in York County in 2023, seven occurred in the Kennebunks.
Of those ten, six buyers plopped down nothing but cold, hard cash for their multimillion-dollar purchases.
Teri Woods, the president of the York County Council of the Maine Association of Realtors, provided these observations during a look back on the trends and top singlefamily home sales in the county in 2023.
“I have been very surprised by the cash transactions that we have had from people from out of state,” Woods said during an interview on Dec. 14.
The top-selling home, an oceanfront cottage on Turbats Creek Road in Kennebunkport, recently shattered the region’s record with a sale totaling $9 million. Agent Bill Gaynor, of Legacy Properties Sotheby’s International Realty in Kennebunk, listed and sold the home.
Known as the Grey Gull Cottage, the home is located at the mouth of Turbats Creek and overlooks the Vaughn Island Preserve. The property has been in the same family for more than 80 years. Built in 1929, the five-bedroom home is 4,108 square feet, with 275 feet spanning the coast.
Buyers compete for limited inventory in 2023
A limited inventory of homes for sale in 2023 led to competition among buyers, according to Woods. People got creative in their efforts to land the home that caught their eye.
“There was a property that was listed at $525,000,” Woods said. “The people were coming from California. They wanted to get away from the wealth tax and be closer to family. They put in an offer of $625,000 and gave a $100,000 nonrefundable deposit, cash.”
Woods, who has been in the real estate business for 38 years, said she has seen nothing like the current trends in the market as she has seen in the few years from the pandemic forward.
Woods provided statistics on the housing market in York County throughout most of 2023 compared to last year. Drawing on statistics from November, Woods showed the median yearto-date sales price of a single-family home in the county was $475,000, up 5% from $450,000 last year.
Also, closings were down from 2,508 year-todate in the county in November 2022 to 1,918 for 2023. That’s a 23.5% dip.
Maine also has seen a 12% dip in new listings, according to statistics. By November of 2022, 2,902 properties had been listed in York County. By November of 2023, the figure was 2,552.
Unchanged, however, is the number of average days a property spends on the market. Homes in 2022 and 2023 spent an average of seven days on the market.
Buyers and sellers have “gone to the sidelines,” however, given the current interest rates, Woods said. Those rates are projected to come down and have begun to do just that this December, she added. That downward trend is expected to continue through the beginning of 2024, which means the current market continues to go through a period of transition, according to Woods.
“We’ll see buyers coming back into the marketplace,” Woods said.
Inventory, though, will remain low, she added.
“And with more buyers coming into the marketplace, there’s every possibility that values could go up even more,” Woods said.
Top 10 selling homes in York County
Following that home out on Turbats Creek Road in Kennebunkport, here are the other sales that make up the top ten in York County in 2023:
2.) 103 Marshall Point Road in Kennebunkport: $6.2 million
Built in 2021, this fourbedroom waterfront home was listed at $6.25 million and sold for close to $6.2 million. Michael Spenlinhauer, of Coldwell Banker Realty in Kennebunkport, was the agent for the property, which consists of .51 acres.
3.) 54 Great Hill Road in Kennebunkport: $6.05 million
This 1997 home was listed at $6.05 million and sold for the same. Agent Andrea Ladd, of Keller Williams Realty in Kennebunk, served as the agent for this five-bedroom waterfront home on .67 acres.
4.) 7 Lords Point Road in Kennebunk: $5.8 million
Built in 2017, this fourbedroom waterfront home listed for roughly $5.6 million – and sold for $5.8 million. Agent Elizabeth Coughlan of Legacy Properties Sotheby’s International Realty in Kennebunk, the same office that sold the $9 million home, handled this property’s listing and sale.
5.) 250 Ocean Avenue in Kennebunkport: $5.6 million
This 2022 Gambrelstyle home was listed for approximately $5.6 million and sold for just a few thousand dollars less. Agent Andrew Berube of AR Berube and Company in Falmouth listed the 1.48-acre property, and agent Crystal Tropeano of RE/MAX Shoreline in Portland sold it.
6.) 6 Lighthouse Watch in York: $5.25 million
This shingle-style home, built in 2001 atop a rocky descent to the ocean, was listed at roughly $5.2 million and sold for $5.25. The property, which has a view of Nubble Light, was listed by agent Peter Larochelle of The Masiello Group in Wells and sold by agent Paul McKee of Keller Williams Realty in Portland.
7.) 1 Arundel Way in Kennebunk: $5 million
This 2013 home with ocean views sold for $5 million after being listed for $5.25 million. Agents Elizabeth Coughlan and Elise Kiely of Legacy Properties Sotheby’s International Realty in Kennebunk listed and sold the .94-acre property, respectively.
8.) 367 Seaside Avenue in Saco: $5 million
This 2005 home also sold for $5 million after being listed for $5.8 million. Antony Galli and Karla Galli of Greater Portland Realty in Portland served as listing and closing agents, respectively. Agent Julia Barros of Coldwell Banker Realty in Kennebunk sold the .94-acre property.
9.) 8 Clarks Lane in York: $4.65 million
Anne Erwin Sotheby’s International Realty of York and Ogunquit handled the listing and sale of this waterfront property, the second of two from York to make this list. This 2020 home was listed for nearly $5 million and came in with a sale at $4.65 million.
10.) 41 Great Hill Road in Kennebunk: $4.25 million
This 2019 home, the second of two sold on Great Hill Road in 2023, listed at $4.5 million and sold at $4.25 million. Agent Emilie Cole of Legacy Properties Sotheby’s International Realty in Kennebunk listed the property, while Heidi Maynard of Pack Maynard and Associates in Kennebunk sold it.