An unprepared house hunter might believe they’d stepped back in time to the height of the mid-pandemic housing boom shopping in New York’s Columbia County, a pocket of the Hudson Valley that continues to draw wealthy buyers in droves.
Demand for country homes and rural properties has leveled off since the pandemic—when many city-dwellers fled for the hills seeking space and safety—and a return to in-person work has cooled demand for remote homes.
But in New York’s Hudson Valley―especially in Columbia County, its northern edge―the market hasn’t softened at all. In fact, agents say they’re seeing bidding wars and competitive sales reminiscent of the most desperate days of pandemic purchases.
“People who want privacy and land, but are priced out of the Hamptons, are coming here,” said Diana Polack, an agent with the Upstate Curious team at Compass. “We’re seeing more consistent, higher-end, cash buyers, and this year will be the best we’ve had financially in the last four years―even better than [during] Covid.”
At the same time, the pool of buyers is expanding, said Jeffries Blackerby, an agent with This Old Hudson Team at Houlihan Lawrence.
“We’re seeing more people from Boston and across New England who would have been focused on the Berkshires, partly because of a lack of inventory across the region,” he said. “But buyers have also been coming from as far as D.C. and the Midwest, along with buyers from California concerned about climate dangers there.”
The consistently hot market means it’s an opportune moment to sell, especially for anyone who caught the renovation bug during the past four years, as agents say buyers are looking for turnkey homes with modern finishes.
Columbia County includes 38 cities across 635 square miles. According to Realtor.com, the median listing price is $635,000, up 6% year over year. But prices in the county soar as high as $22 million, and several listings skirt the $10 million mark. The county’s center is about 120 miles north of New York City.
“There is much bigger money coming into the Hudson Valley, and the ceiling has gone up on what luxury is,” said Raj Kumar, an agent with the Lillie K. Team at Four Seasons Sotheby’s International Realty in Hudson. “A home that would have cost $500,000 before the pandemic now goes for closer to $1.5 million. And we’ve been saying up here that $3 million is the new million” when it comes to home prices.
Even buyers from the UK and France are also discovering the region.
“Western European buyers understand the country-house lifestyle, and they’ve been moving here just like Americans buy in Chianti [in Italy],” Kumar said.
Still, “buyers are exercising their right to be a little more discerning,” he said. “During Covid, people bought stuff that was overpriced. The only buyer’s remorse we’ve seen here are from people who, in their craziness, ended up buying bad properties. You can pay over, but the product has to be great.”
For sellers, presenting a turnkey property is the most important aspect to maximizing appeal to the widest pool of buyers, Kumar said.
“We’ll have towels in the bathroom and milk in the fridge. That’s the level of service and luxury people are looking for,” he said. “If you’re coming from California or France, you don’t want to manage any part of a project for a new house.”
Though furnishings and small updates here and there can go a long way, Kumar cautioned against “bastardizing” a home with inauthentic or inappropriate enhancements in an effort to appeal to affluent buyers.
Authenticity has also been “so important to buyers,” Kumar said. “It’s not about sexing up everything based on what influencers tell you.”
Even an older bathroom can appeal to people if it suits the house, he added. “People want move-in [ready], luxurious and comfortable, but also authentic to the property. Messing with a 1700s farmhouse can make it feel too ‘done.’”
The most effective investment for a seller looking to maximize the value of a home would be central air conditioning, which many homes in the region still lack, said Blackerby, of Houlihan Lawrence. “Nobody needed it a few decades ago, and most of the old farmhouses or 1970s homes don’t have it. But it’s a necessity now,” he said.
Meanwhile, the wave of demand has spread into the upper reaches of Columbia County, he said. “This is a story about pushing northward, with some really beautiful, magnificent areas like North Chatham and Malden Bridge that are stunning and offer really good value,” he said.
Established areas like Hudson, Austerlitz and Hillsdale are especially sought-after as well. “Hillsdale’s got beautiful streets with some newly built modern houses, and gorgeous renos, with views of the Catskills,” he said.
The median price in Hudson, for instance, was $745,000 in August, a more than 80% spike from a year earlier, when it was $405,000.
Chatham, Hillsdale and Columbia-adjacent Germantown are appealing to buyers now, according to Nancy Felcetto of Brown Harris Stevens, though the upper end of the market “has gone up and up nonstop.”
“When I came up here 20 years ago, people didn’t know where Columbia County was. Now, the area’s been discovered, and it’s been very competitive,” she said.
Prices keep edging up, with $3 million and $4 million listings proliferating in and around Hudson, Felcetto said.
Across the county, “the $2 million to $4 million price point is busier than it’s ever been. It’s hard to find anything under a million,” she said. “Anything along the river is going to command a high price if it’s done well. Turnkey homes with clean lines are doing very well. People want historic homes, since they don’t make them anymore. But it’s hard to find contractors to do any work, since they’re all booked.”
Felcetto would advise a seller to invest in appliances to maximize the value of a home. “People come up here to entertain,” she said. “You need six to eight burners, at least, and sexy tile.”
At the Upstate Curious Team at Compass, Polack and her associates “have an Architectural Digest photographer on staff,” she said. Sellers should “make sure the house is ultra-clean. Ensure that everything is ready from an inspection perspective.”
As far as styles, “the modern farmhouse thing has kind of been watered-down with so many flippers doing the Home Depot version of that renovation,” she said. “A warmer approach is probably more desired. But one thing is common: Standards here have gone up dramatically.”