In what has become a new benchmark in Buffalo’s residential real estate history, an opulent house on one of the city’s most exclusive streets -- Tudor Place - has sold for a record $3.5 million. It was one the market for less than a year.
Attorney Kyle Roche bought the 98-year-old 26-room mansion, according to documents filed in the Erie County Clerk's Office. The nearly 8,700-square-foot house, built in 1927, has six bedrooms, a carriage house, in-ground pool and was developed for Buffalo businessman and civic leader Orin Foster.
While Buffalo has seen its fair share of million-dollar homes on the rise - including 24 last year - the $3.5 million sales mark is a new benchmark according to Gurney Becker & Bourne’s Kristan Andersen and Tracy Heneghan, who brokered the deal. Andersen says the deal speaks volumes to Buffalo’s upper residential market.
“It says a lot. I think the high-end luxury market is really exceptionally affordable compared to other major metro areas, and people are starting to take notice,” Andersen said.
Interestingly, there were two solid offers for the house and that also speaks to the viability of the region’s $1 million-plus market where 83 homes in Erie County last year crossed that threshold. Ten have sold so far this year in Erie County. As recently as 2010, there were just a handful of $1 million-plus home sales in the county, according to Buffalo Niagara Association of Realtors data.
So where are these people coming from? Gurney Becker & Bourne’s Tracey Heneghan says most of those sales are to people already living in the region.
“I think I did the analysis a couple of years ago, and it was almost 90% were bought by Buffalonians who either are currently living here or moving back to the area because they truly know how special these properties are and how they're not going to find them in other markets,” Heneghan said.
The sale of homes going for more than $1 million remains a key economic threshold within the region's residential real estate landscape.
