Subscribe Now

The region’s luxury real estate market bounces back.

Lanse Robb is the North Shore’s Rolls-Royce of realtors, responsible for the sale of Clipston Manor and the carriage house of the Wyck Estate in Manchester-by-the-Sea. He also brokered the sale of a dramatic oceanfront lot surrounding Magnolia’s Hammond Castle, a seven-acre Wenham estate, several expansive Hamilton horse farms, and the incomparable Beverly waterfront estate known as Skerryvore, among other multi-million dollar listings.

The most interesting statistic, however, is that after a ho-hum 2009, he has sold these properties-and more-in the first quarter of 2010. While he shrugs off questions about last year’s figures, Robb, who works out of LandVest’s Post Office Square headquarters in Boston, acknowledges that this year’s sales total approximately $16,500,000. Properties under agreements add approximately $5 million, and he counts another $4 million in offers. He also sees strong interest in the Wyck Estate, which lists for $12,250,000. Does this mean that high-end real estate on the North Shore is back? Will houses sell as they did before?

“Listings are now 30 to 40 percent off the original list price,” Robb says. “We are seeing a new level of pricing. On the North Shore, that level has not been established yet, but people say that now is the time to make their move.” For buyers, he says, there will be good opportunities, especially inland. “But if people put prices back up, there will be stagnation. Today, people do their homework online. They have too much information to pay inflated prices.”

Robb adds that many LandVest listings are second homes. “We’re not necessarily selling ‘gotta-have’ homes,” he says.

For Robb, the volatile economy just comes with the territory. “This is my second or third recession,” he says. “Nothing can hold on forever. Selling high-end real estate is like riding a bucking bronco-you have to stay on. If you’re good enough to hold on to the listing, you can get the sale.” -Regina Cole