By Katy Savage
A new real estate office is coming to Killington as people continue to flock from the cities amid the Covid-19 pandemic.
Four Seasons Sotheby’s International Realty officially opened its new office in the lobby of Mountain Green on Killington Road on Wednesday, July 7.
This is the 11th Sotheby’s location in Vermont.
“It’s a market we’ve alway been in but we weren’t there with a presence,” said Nick Mastroeni, the Sotheby’s regional manager for the greater Vermont area.
Sotheby’s, known for selling and listing luxury property, is headquartered in South Burlington. The closest office to Killington is in Rutland. Southby’s has 15 agents in Rutland who will split their time between Killington and Rutland, Mastroeni said.
“One thing we’re trying to do in Killington is help with the higher price points,” Mastroeni said. “We’ll end up hopefully doing more in that area.”
The new office is opening at a time when Killington saw its largest house sale ever recorded this past spring. A ski in, ski out five-bedroom house went for $2.65 million after receiving five cash offers in two days. The house was listed by Kyle Kershner, the broker/owner of Killington Pico Realty. The previous record in Killington had sold for $2.4 million about three years earlier.
The sale was one of five $1-million-plus sales in the past year, Kershner previously told the Mountain Times. In the past, Kershner said he expected about one $1 million sale per year.
Real estate significantly picked up last April and May, when Covid-19 travel restrictions started to lift and people from the cities were able to travel again, according to Mastroeni.
Ludlow collected more than $2 million in property transfer tax last year — more than double an average year, according to Ludlow Town Manager Scott Murphy.
Meanwhile, in Mendon properties were reappraised for the first time in 16 years and some residents saw their property values jump 15-fold.
“There’s still a very good demand in the area,” Mastroeni said.
Mastroeni said the real estate market has slowed down since the craze of last spring, and is returning to a more healthy level as the economy starts to reopen.
“Ten to 15 offers (on one listing) isn’t a healthy situation,” Mastroeni said.
Data shows it’s not just resort towns that are seeing the demand: homes are selling at higher price points throughout Rutland County.
According to a quarterly market report from Four Seasons Sotheby’s International Realty, a total of 226 listings sold in Rutland County in the first quarter of 2021, up 60% from Quarter 1 of 2020. The average sale price in Rutland County was $272,878 in the first quarter of 2021, up about 48% from the first quarter of 2020.
Mastroeni said last week that a ribbon cutting ceremony is scheduled for July 7.
“This is the major project for this year,” he said, of the companies expansion efforts.
