Vacation hotspot known as ‘Billionaires’ Isle’ and beloved by Joe Biden and Kourtney Kardashian sees house prices FALL – thanks to well-known problem in the area

Realtors warn that home prices on Massachusetts’ Billionaires’ Isle are plummeting due to the growing threat of beach erosion and water damage.

Prices of multimillion-dollar mansions on Nantucket Island are dropping by as much as $1 million amid rising sea levels and severe beach erosion that puts homes at risk of washing away.

Nantucket, located 30 miles south of Cape Cod, has become a vacation destination for a host of A-listers in recent years, including Joe Biden and Kourtney Kardashian. It’s also best known as the setting for Henry Melville’s “Moby Dick.”

But numbers of Makelaar.com Asking prices for homes in the area fell 5.8 per cent to $4,595,000 in the year to May.

DailyMail.com found a 4,522 square foot property on Water Street the price has been reduced by almost $1 million.

This 10-bedroom, 10-bathroom luxury country home is a historic gem built in 1812 and still features many of the original details including raised-panel wainscoting, four-panel doors with vintage hardware, and wide-plank pine and fir floors.

It also features multiple fireplaces, raised panel interior shutters, multiple cast iron clawfoot tubs, and a roof terrace.

Yet the house has been listed on Zillow for 130 days without a buyer, and is currently listed at $4,850,000.

Another 2,628 square foot property that has seen a massive price drop of $755,000 is located on main Street.

This four-bedroom, four-bathroom single-family home is considered one of the most charming homes on the cobblestone street.

The house costs $5,995,000, is a short walk from the waterfront and has a terrace and garden.

Despite its location and structure, the house has been listed on Zillow for almost 100 days.

Makelaar.com Economist Hannah Jones said: ‘The rising supply suggests demand in the area has fallen.

‘Winners looking for a home in an area with serious climate-related risks can expect asking prices to be adjusted accordingly.

‘If buyers take these risks into account, homes are likely to stay on the market longer. And the homes that do sell may fetch a lower sales price.’

It marks a stunning turnaround in the once strong housing market.

Nantucket’s year-round population is 14,000, but in the summer months this number swells to 80,000. Business insider defeated.

President Joe Biden spends Thanksgiving with his family in Nantucket every year. In 2023, his family stayed at the $34 million mansion of his billionaire friend David Rubenstein.

Meanwhile, Kourtney Kardashian spent $6,628 per night in 2020 for her family and friends to vacation at a $50 million property on the island, according to PeopleShe also rented a large property to vacation with her children for the entire month of July 2017.

However, the island has been hit by increasingly harsh winters that have brought strong storms and high winds, stripping sand from beaches and causing erosion, a phenomenon that is hurting coastal housing markets across the U.S.

Billionaire Barry Sternlicht’s Nantucket beach house had to be demolished earlier this year due to erosion.

According to Business insiderHe had purchased 289 Hummock Pond Road in 2010 for $610,000 in a foreclosure sale.

In 2019, Sternlicht purchased 287 Hummock Pond Road for $1.3 million.

But the 60 feet of erosion caused by Hurricanes Paulette and Teddy in 2020 left both properties severely damaged, with the city council ordering the demolition of one of the two homes on the property.

The other was placed on steel girders, where it remained until it was demolished in April 2024.

Local architect and Sternlicht representative Matt MacEachern told The Nantucket Historic District Commission: ‘His house was supposed to be moved about four years ago, but then severe erosion occurred. A storm caused over 30 feet of erosion.

“But basically there were no options because all the land was eroded. We talked to a couple of different companies to try to move the structure and they told us it’s just not possible.”

Shelly Lockwood of real estate consulting firm Advisors Living, whose family moved to Nantucket in the 1970s and lives there year-round, comment given: ‘People call me all the time and say, “It’s such a great house,” and it is. But whether they should buy it is another story.

“I tell them, ‘If you can afford to lose the money – and some people can – then buy the house. If you feel comfortable with it [having the house for] one, five, 10 years – it probably won’t be 10 – and then you go ahead and buy it. But you can’t believe it’s going to last.”