A custom-built colonial home on Royall Point Road in Yarmouth is one of the few on sale in the town, located 12 miles northeast of Portland.
Priced at just under $2 million, was built by Anastos & Nadeau, a Portland-based design firm known for high-end homebuilding and refurbishing. The home, located in the Royall Point development, overlooks the Royal River.
The price is on the higher end for the wealthy Portland suburb, where the median home price in April was $730,500 but where prices range up to $3 million, according to various real estate websites. That median price is down 15 percent from last April, according to Redfin.com.
Many of the six homes sold in Yarmouth in April got multiple offers, some with waived contingencies, Redfin.com found, with the average home selling for 4 percent above list price and hot homes selling within one week for 11 percent above list.
The Yarmouth market reflects general real estate trends across the state, with a shortage of homes keeping prices high. Maine home sales decreased 30 percent in April compared to the previous year, but prices continued to rise, up 6 percent to a median sales price of $367,500, according to the Maine Association of Realtors. Despite the number of homes for sale in April rising 10 percent since March, the numbers remain far below pre-pandemic levels.
“The April numbers reflect the need for supply,” said association President Carmen McPhail. “Both additional ‘for sale’ inventory, and more new home construction, is needed in Maine to create a more balanced market.”
In Yarmouth, only six homes sold in April, about 25 percent fewer than the previous year, according to Redfin.com. Another six sold in May ranging in price from $353,000 to $2.3 million. Two homes sold for 3 percent each under list price, The $2.3 million home sold at list price and the rest were over list, with the highest, a $1 million home on Hay Field Road, selling for 19 percent over list price.
People looking to move to Yarmouth in April were mostly from the Northeast U.S., according to searches on Redfin.com. The majority, 2,442, were searches from people in Boston, although there were 108 searches from Los Angeles.
Among the top criteria among searches was properties located close to the water. The Royall Point Road property overlooks the Royal River close to where it meets Casco Bay. The 6,800-square-foot-home, built in 1989, is assessed at $1.6 million with 2022 taxes at $35,124, according to town records. It has 15 rooms, four fireplaces, five bedrooms and six baths plus shared 388 feet of water frontage.
“It has views throughout the house of boat traffic going in and out of Casco Bay,” said Elise Kiely, senior vice president at Legacy Properties Sotheby’s International Realty, who is handling the sale. “On any given day you can see eagles, herons and an occasional seal feeding on the stripers in the river.”
