Market resetting after Pier Homes auction 

Posted: 6:54 pm Tue, July 6, 2010
By Melody Simmons
Daily Record Business Writer

One week after an auction of waterfront condos at Pier Homes, prices for the remaining 22 units in the Baltimore luxury development have been reset, starting at $625,000.

The new prices, like the units that sold last week, are well below the original asking prices of well over $1 million per unit, said Jon Gollinger, East Coast president of Accelerated Marketing Partners, the Boston-based auctioneers that will handle sales at the complex on Key Highway for the next three months.

“The face of the new market is for the most part similar to who bought at the auction,” Gollinger said. “The remaining units are not going to sell below the auction prices.”

The June 28 auction drew a crowd of nearly 400, and 135 participants registered to bid.

Sales at the Pier Homes development had been nearly idle for a couple of years as the housing market — and the city’s luxury condo market — stagnated during the recession. Units were listed for up to $1.9 million, yet even the location on the city’s picturesque and colorful waterfront could not spark interest, as two-thirds of the complex had remained vacant.

In one hour at the auction, though, 18 units were sold for a total of nearly $12.4 million, and Gollinger said the 88-unit development is now 75 percent sold. He added the auction served to “reset the housing market” for luxury homes in Baltimore.

Cindy Conklin, a partner with Yerman, Witman, Gaines & Conklin Realty, based in nearby Federal Hill, agreed.

“I sold a unit in Canton Cove the next day — and I am expecting an offer on another house on Warren Avenue, which has been on the market for a long time,” Conklin said. “I think you will see a number of homes go under contract for over $1 million. It redefined the bottom of the market.”

The Pier Homes auction bidding started at $329,000 for a three-bedroom, 3½-bath unit originally listed at $896,000. That unit sold for $546,000 at the auction. Another unit, originally listed at $1.7 million, was auctioned for $831,000.

Gollinger said the revamped sales plan at Pier Homes included offering more units for sale after the auction, using the winning bids as new price points.

“We’ve already taken four offers,” he said Tuesday. “People might now be thinking over the price they are willing to pay for a unit at Pier Homes. Also, we are now dealing with confirmed scarcity.”

Bob Merbler, another partner with Yerman, Witman, Gaines & Conklin Realty, said the city’s luxury housing market is in a state of flux as the fallout from the auction and the lower prices affect sales.

“There haven’t been enough comparables,” he said. “The auction established a market with comparables. And now appraisers, buyers and sellers have a reference point. Whether sellers want to listen to that, and whether buyers believe it, it’s up to them. Overall, it’s a very positive thing for the market because what we’re facing is too much inventory.”