Lack of Inventory – Still the Challenge
The Big Number is 45%. Combined, all Boston neighborhoods saw a 45% decrease in inventory of condos for sale as of March 30 compared last year at this time. This decrease in inventory didn’t seem to effect sales as the average sale price went up 10% to $611K vs. $556K and the number of condo sales increased 3% to 644 units from 624. The median sales price increased 4% to $416K from $400K in 2012. On first glance this real estate market seems very healthy but a continuing decrease in inventory levels could create a problem going forward.
The Back Bay saw a 1% increase in condo sales to 74 units from 73 in 2012 while the average price of a condo sold increased by 12% to $1.489M. The number of condos available for sale dropped 50% from 183 last year to only 92 today.
The South End saw an 8% increase in the number of condo sales to 85 condos sold year to date compared to 79 last year. The average price of a condo sold increased 18% to $763K compared with $646K last year. The inventory of condos for sale decreased 57% from a very low 130 last year to a terrifying 56 today.
South Boston saw a 4% decrease in the number of condo sold to 80 in compared with 83 in 2012. The average sales price of a condo increased by 8% to $444K compared with $410K in 2011. The inventory of condos for sale dropped 49% from 154 in 2012 to 79 condos for sale today.
This market is so resilient and so desirable that declining inventory levels have not negatively affected the steady increase in sales and prices, although these increases have slowed somewhat. Spring will tell just how resilient the market is to very low inventory.
