The pandemic-era housing boom is still roaring in this pocket of upstate New York

An unprepared house hunter might believe they’d stepped back in time to the height of the mid-pandemic housing boom shopping in , a pocket of the Hudson Valley that c꧂ontinues 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-pe✃rson 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 sale♑s reminiscent of the most desperate days of pandemic purcha♐ses.

“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 buyeℱrs 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 mea🍒ns it’s an opportune moment to sell, especially for anyone who caught the renovation bug ไduring 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 t✃o Realtor.com, the median listing price is $635,000, uಌp 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 co🍎ming into the Hudson Valley, and the ceiling has gone up on what luxur൲y 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 lܫifestyle, and they’ve been moving here just like Americans buy in Chiant💃i [in Italy],” Kumar said.

Still, “buyersꩲ 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 aspꦯect to💫 maximizing appeal to the widest pool of buyers, Kumar said.

“We’ll have toജwels 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.”

T💃hough 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. B𓆏ut it’s a necessity now,” he said.

Meanwhile, the wave of deಌmand 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 Ma♌lden Bridge that are stunning and offer really good value,” he said.

Established areas like Hudson, Austerli🍃tz 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, fꦐor instance, was $745,000 in August, a more than 80% spike from a year earlier, when it was $405,0♛00.

Chatham, Hillsdale and Columbia-adjacent Germantown are appealing to buyers now, according to Nancy Felcetto of Brown Harris Stevens, though the up🐻per end of the market “has gone up and upꦿ nonstop.”

“When I came up here 20 years ago, people didn’t know where Col🥂umbia County was. Now, the area’s been discovered, and it’s been very comp💫etitive,” she said.

Prices keep edging up, with $3 million and $4 million listings proliferating in and around Hu🍸dson, 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 ar💯e doing very well. Peo♒ple 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. “Peಌople 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, “theꦗ 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.”