Nantucket Home Lists for Almost 500% More Since Its Last Sale in 2019—Here’s Why

A stunning 13-room Nantucket, MA, home that has changed hands only once since 1996 has hit the market for $16.5 million.

The 1.56 acre lot on the northeastern part of the island was first sold almost 30 years ago for a mere $675,000. Since then, prices on the tony vacation island have skyrocketed, except in certain pockets that are at risk of beach erosion.

The seven-bedroom, 7.5-bath house at 174 Cliff Road was sold in August 2019 to the current owners for $2.8 million after lingering on the market for a year and seeing a $100,000 price shave.

Now that same home that sold only six years ago for $588 per square foot is currently listed for a staggering $3,465 per square foot.

Why the price surge?

While some oceanfront homes that have seen beach erosion have sold at steep discounts, houses farther inland but still a short stroll to the water have become more in demand.

In July 2025, the median listing price in Nantucket is $4,996,000, more than double the average listing price during the same month in 2017 to 2019 pre-pandemic ($2,145,000), according to Realtor.com® data.

“Cliff Road has zero erosion risk anywhere along it,” local real estate agent Shelly Lockwood, of Pepper Frazier Real Estate, reveals to Realtor.com. “It’s a very safe and beautiful area to buy real estate on Nantucket.”

Lockwood holds continuing education courses on the island to educate agents about erosion and realistic home pricing.

Additionally, the home and its two other structures—a 1,300-square-foot guesthouse with cabana and a newly built recreation barn/garage tricked out as a gym and entertainment space—have been down to the studs gut-renovated in 2020 and 2022.

And the property abuts conservation land, so there’s no risk of a developer suddenly building in your backyard.

“To have that amount of conservation area on all sides of you is very special,” listing agent Cam Gammill at Fisher Real Estate tells Realtor.com.

Plus, the land is almost 2 acres in an area now zoned with 1-acre lots. “That allows for a lot more ground cover and optionality for buyers,” he adds.

The first floor opens into a formal living area and dining room; a guest suite; and a farmhouse kitchen with top notch appliances and finishes, a large mudroom, breakfast nook, six-burner Wolf stove, oversized island, and a walk-in pantry with a wet bar.

Two en-suite bedrooms have an office spanning the length between them.

A second living area has French doors that open to the patio and outdoor area, which has plenty of lounging and entertaining space, not to mention the new 18 x 32 in-ground pool.

The second floor boasts two en-suite bedrooms, the primary with a walk-in closet, and a bath with soaking tub and walk-in shower.

The two-level guesthouse with cabana and disappearing wall that opens directly to the pool has plenty of room for visitors, with one bedroom on each floor, an open-concept kitchen and living space, and a private balcony on the upper level.

A newly built recreation barn that can double as a garage currently serves as a gym and entertainment area.

The listing boasts that the barn is “perfectly oriented with a south-facing backyard; the property is designed for long afternoons of sunshine, whether poolside or savoring the surrounding natural beauty from one of the outdoor rooms.”

Cliff Road is one of the more desirable roads on the island due to its proximity to downtown—with its shopping, restaurants, and the ferry to the mainland—combined with the area’s estate-sized lots.

The road has three other active listings ranging in price from $5.995 million to $8.95 million.

Despite headlines about beach erosion and plummeting valuations, the island is still highly coveted, and 2025 has thus far been a record one for sales, says Lockwood.

According to Fisher Real Estate, total dollar volume on the island is up 26% year over year, to $756 million. And the number of transactions is up 46%, to 201.

“From an investment standpoint, the island remains a luxury market with constrained supply and consistently high demand, though climate risk is a factor investors increasingly weigh,” says Realtor.com economist Jiayi Xu.

“Fortunately, the local government has been working on new programs to combat the erosion.“

If Cliff Road is your jam, but you don’t have $16 million to spare, a similar property a six-minute stroll away is listed at half the price, thanks to the house needing work.

The four-bedroom home with one-bedroom guest cottage and in-ground pool on a 1.84-acre lot at 196 Cliff Road, built in 1994, is currently asking $7,999,995 with a $2 million reduction after only two weeks on the market.

“I have a ton of people circling,” listing agent John McGarr of Maury People Sotheby’s International Realty tells Realtor.com. “There’s a significant opportunity here to add value.”