Tag: Boston condo sales volume

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analytics general info

Boston Q3 Condo Sales Review

The Big Number is 21%. That’s the increase in condo sales year over year at the end of the 3rd quarter, September 30. Combined, all Boston neighborhoods saw a 21% increase in the number of condo sales year to date, a 3% increase in the average price of a condominium sold to $545K, and an 8% increase in the median sales price to $409K. This real estate market is healthy except for the continuing decrease in inventory levels. Inventory levels of available condo’s for sale have fallen 41% to 919 properties for sale versus 1,567 at this time last year.

The Back Bay,  saw a 20% increase in sales year to date, but the average price  of a condo sold dropped by 2% to $1.120M. The inventory level of condos for sale dropped 53% to 95 condos for sale vs 204 last year.

The South End saw a 13% increase in the number of condo sales to 425 condos sold year to date compared to 377 last year.  The average price of a condo sold increased 4% to $690K compared with $665K last year. The inventory of condos for sale decreased 52% from 173 last year to 83 today. This will continue to be a factor in market performance going forward.

South Boston saw a 28% increase in the number of condo sales year to date compared with 360 last year. The average sales price of a condo increased by 9% to $421K compared with $388K last year.  South Boston has the largest drop in inventory of all downtown n’hoods down 60% from 196 properties for sale last year to 78 available for sale today.

Inventory remains the problem, but as I have said repeatedly this market is so resilient and so desirable that declining inventory levels have not negatively effected the steady increase in sales and prices. Go figure!

 

 

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general info

Are Buyers Bummed Out In Boston?

Scott at Boston.com comes up withe some great posts and I have posted another one below. Scott talks about a Redfin survey that finds only 46% of buyers surveyed  think it is a good time for house hunting. This is apparent as well in all anecdotal information from the field specifically in downtown Boston. The issue remains lack of good available inventory and the impact that this will have in the “nascent real estate recovery. Jon

Posted by Scott Van Voorhis  September 4, 2012 07:59 AM

So says Redfin in a troubling new survey of buyers in 19 major metro markets across the country, including Boston.

Fewer than half the buyers out there – 46 percent – actually believe it is a good time to be house hunting, according to the online brokerage firm.

That’s a big shift from the first quarter, when hopes for deals and bargains was much higher among buyers as the spring sales season approached. Back then, 56 percent said it was good time to buy, Redfin notes.

However, probably the most dramatic change is in buyers’ expectations of where home prices are headed. The number of buyers who believe home prices are headed up has nearly doubled, to 61 percent from 32 percent in the first quarter.

So what’s made home buyers so glum?

Well bidding wars haven’t helped, with seven out of 10 buyers reporting they had encountered multiple bids on at least one offer, according to Redfin.

In fact, 31 percent of those surveyed said they would back off if confronted with another bidding war, up from 28 percent this spring.

Of course, at the root of the problem is a falling supply of homes for sale, a phenomenon that has endangered the nascent real estate recovery both here in Greater Boston and across the country.

Fewer choices have meant more bidding wars, rising prices and increasingly grumpy buyers. (The Redfin survey is based on the responses of 829 buyers during the week of Aug. 16-22.)

And the stumbling economy – and all those storm clouds over Europe’s rickety banking system – hasn’t helped cheer buyers up either.

The percentage of buyers worried about the economy rose to 27 percent from 20
percent in the first quarter.

We’ll just have to wait and see what the fall selling season brings, I guess.

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analytics

Massachusetts July Home Sales Hit 7 Year High

Boston Business Journal by Lisa van der Pool, Broadcast/Social Media Editor

Date: Wednesday, August 29, 2012, 2:07pm EDT
Broadcast/Social Media Editor-Boston Business Journal

Massachusetts single-family home sales rose nearly 27 percent on a year-over-year basis in July, according to The Warren Group.

A total of 4,979 single-family homes were sold in the state in July, up from 3,922 during the same month last year, marking the highest level of sales volume in July since 2005.

Between Jan. 1 and July 31, 26,596 homes were sold in Massachusetts, a 24.8 percent increase over the same period in 2011.

“There are a lot of good signs pointing toward a real estate recovery,” said Cory S. Hopkins, editorial director of the Warren Group. “But we are comparing sales to a very depressed market last summer, so it’s important to step back and realign expectations.”

Condo sales also increased in July, rising 34 percent over the same month last year. A total of 1,994 condos were sold in July, up from 1,487 from July 2011, the Warren Group reported.

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analytics general info

Boston Condo Prices Set Record… And A Scarcity Of Units Ensues!

Yesterdays Boston Globe article follows for those who didn’t see it. It is all the buzz!… and for good reason.

Globe Staff / July 24, 2012
Condominium values in Boston’s core reached a record high during the second quarter of this year as eager buyers drove up sales, according to data­ scheduled to be released Tuesday.
The median price in a dozen downtown neighborhoods — they include Beacon Hill, the Fenway, the North End, and South Boston — climbed to $515,000 during the three months that ended June 30, according to LINK, meaning half sold for more than that price and half for less. That topped the previous peak of $498,500 in 2008, just prior to the nation’s financial crisis. LINK, a Boston company, tracks the downtown condominium market.
The increase adds to mounting evidence that the state’s housing market is on the mend, housing specialists said.

“The feeling out there is prices are not going to soften anymore,” said Barry ­Bluestone, the director of the Dukakis Center for Urban and Regional Policy at Northeastern University. “We are seeing the real signs of a recovery in the housing market.”

Even during the worst years of the real estate industry’s decline, condominium prices in some of Boston’s more desirable areas fell only modestly, putting the local market in a better position to rebound. Prices and sales were propped up by higher-income homeowners who were hurt less during the recession, as well as by the increasing popularity of urban living coupled with limited inventory, housing specialists said.

“The city attracts young and old by providing fun and beauty, art and restaurants, all without needing a car,” said a Harvard University economist, Edward­ Glaeser, author of the book “Triumph of the City.”

Trisha Collins McCarthy, president of the Massachusetts Association of Realtors, said many condominium buyers like the idea of trading long, congested commutes for city conveniences. “We have more of a population that has said, ‘I want to be near the train,’ ’’ she said.

After dropping for a couple of years, downtown condo prices started to climb in 2010. This year, that growth has been bolstered by continued low interest rates and improving consumer confidence, according to housing specialists.

Condominium sales volume was up sharply during the second quarter of this year, to 1,051, or nearly 36 percent more than during the same three months of last year.

The median sale price of condominiums in luxury buildings — those that offer amenities such as concierge and valet services — also climbed.

The $779,000 median closing price for the luxury condos was 7.8 percent higher than during the second quarter of 2011, LINK said, compared with 7.5 percent higher for the all of the Boston neighborhoods measured by the company.

The number of luxury condo sales during the past three months increased by 22.2 percent to 198, the company said.

Statewide, single-family home values remained essentially flat in June, at $331,000, compared with June 2011, while the number of sales increased by 18 percent to 5,099, according to William Raveis Real Estate, Mortgage & Insurance. It is based in Shelton, Conn., but also does business in Massachusetts.

Even though more people are signaling they are ready to buy a condominium in Boston, real estate agents say they struggle to find enough units to show. Only 531 properties were available in the downtown area on the last day of June, about half the number up for sale on that day in 2011, LINK reported.

Eddy Foley, 45, said he has spent six months looking for a South End condominium priced in the $500,000 range. He found one he wanted, but lost out when someone else bid $34,000 over the asking price.

“It’s torture out there,” Foley said. “There’s really nothing available.”

Carmela Laurella, president of the Boston-based real estate company CL Waterfront Properties LLC, said condominiums priced reasonably are selling quickly.

Indeed, sales on the Boston waterfront jumped by 72.7 percent in the second quarter, compared with the second quarter of 2011. The median price for a waterfront condominium increased by 21.2 percent, to $827,000, LINK found.

“We have more demand than we have property to sell,’’ Laurella said. “We can barely list anything without it going under [a purchase agreement] within a couple of weeks.”

John Ranco, a senior sales associate with Hammond Residential Real Estate in the South End, said times have changed so drastically that real estate agents are now searching to locate interested sellers rather than wary buyers.

“The supply side is really hurting,” Ranco said. “There is a tremendous amount of pent-up demand.”

Jenifer B. McKim can be reached at [email protected]. 

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analytics general info

The Goode and Farmer Report – Boston Q2 Update

The Big Number is 16%. That’s the increase in condo sales in Boston as of June 30. Combined, all Boston neighborhoods saw a 16% increase in the number of condo sales year to date, a 2% increase in the average price of a condominium sold, and a 5% increase in the median sales price. Put together all this good news is more evidence that while not necessarily out of the woods, this real estate market is healthier than most. The one downside to this exceptional sales activity is that inventory levels of available condo’s for sale have fallen 38% to 1,177 properties for sale versus 1,903 at th is time last year.

Boston’s most expensive neighborhood the Back Bay,  saw a 30% increase in sales while the average price  of a condo sold dropped by 11% to $1.162M. The inventory level of properties for sale dropped 31% to 168 condos for sale vs 242 last year.

The South End saw a 24% increase in the number of condo sales to 264 properties and  the average price of a condo sold increased 1% to $684K. The inventory of condos for sale decreased 45% from 208 to 114. Unless this condition corrects itself this will be a factor in market performance going forward.

South Boston, the darling of the my last market report moderated somewhat with a 4% increase in the average sales price to $408K and a 12% increase in sales to 235 properties sold through the second quarter. South Boston has the largest drop in inventory of all downtown n’hoods down 56% from 225 properties for sale last year to 99 available for sale today.

Every downtown neighborhood has it’s own story and most are positive excepting the inventory numbers. Total Boston numbers highlight the good news. Sales volume is up 19% to $1.080B… One Billion, 80 million dollars! Average days on market are down 12% and the inventory of properties for sale is down 38%.  These numbers highlight incredible short term performance but portend serious issues going forward.

 

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analytics general info

Low Inventory Pushing Prices Up In Boston?

Scott Van Voorhis  did a great post on declining inventory levels finally driving up prices in Boston.  I have excerpted the post below. The numbers are staggering in many of the markets shown.

Boston has landed near the top of a list of major metro markets across the country where low inventory appears to finally driving up home prices.

Boston comes in No. 11 on the report, having seen the number of homes on the market drop 37 percent over the past year, as of June 19, according to a new report by Movoto Real Estate. (Movoto is an national on-line brokerage whom I am certainly not endorsing but who did an interesting report). During the same period prices of homes on the market in the Hub have risen 11 percent to nearly $300,000.

Here’s an excerpt from Movoto’s report.

We are seeing a gradual increase in the prices of homes in areas that have been most affected by low inventory. This could be an indicator the housing market has finally pulled out of its slump. We’d like to think so.

Here are the two relevant sets of stats taken from the Movoto report. The first shows declining inventory levels in Boston and other major metro markets across country.

  • Las Vegas, down 66 percent
  • San Francisco, down 65 percent
  • Miami, down 62 percent
  • Fresno, down 52 percent
  • Oakland, down 50 percent
  • Long Beach, down 49 percent
  • Seattle, down 42 percent
  • Mesa, down 41 percent
  • Phoenix, down 41 percent
  • Portland, down 41 percent
  • Boston, down 37 percent

The second set of stats, also from Movoto, shows the rise in list prices in these same cities.

  • Las Vegas, up 52 percent
  • Phoenix, up 30 percent
  • Mesa, up 25 percent
  • Miami, up 23 percent
  • San Francisco, up 23 percent
  • Austin, up 22 percent
  • Oakland, up 17 percent
  • Seattle, up 14 percent
  • Fresno, up 13 percent
  • Long Beach, up 12 percent
  • Boston, up 11 percent

Combine more buyers with fewer sellers and prices start to go up.

That tried and true  economic law of supply and demand is always the reason why prices go up or down. As I say repeatedly… Empirical data does not lie.

 

 

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analytics

We All Knew It – Home Sales Are Back

The comeback in home sales that many of us have been seeing hints of is now backed up with solid numbers. All reports are showing sales increases as well as declining inventory levels. Second quarter sales reports will show terrific numbers especially in downtown Boston neighborhoods. Sales of single-family homes in Massachusetts have bounced back to levels not seen since the Great Recession sent an already declining market into a tailspin. The Massachusetts Association of Realtors reported this week that May home sales were up more than 27 percent over the same month last year, while  The Warren Group pegs the jump at 35 percent.

The best news is that after hints of recovery for months, and most importantly our experience on the streets, the long-suffering real estate market finally appears to be living up to expectations and is finally in a recovery and coming out of the the deep trough it plunged into after the near global economic collapse of September 2008.

The 4,445 homes sold in May surpassed both May 2007 and May 2006 as well, when 3,884 and 4,200 homes were sold, respectively, in those months, according to a comparison of numbers from past monthly reports on the MAR website.

Look for articles and reports touting these terrific results and for the resulting positive effect on buyer and seller confidence.

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analytics

Goode and Farmer Report – Boston April 2012

April… what a month for real estate in Boston! There was the national news story about the return of multiple offers in many markets, including Boston; The unprecedented lack of inventory for sale… down 35% and more in some downtown neighborhoods, and the core strength of the market in spite of these conditions.

For all Boston neighborhoods combined condo sales were up 10% YTD over 2011 to 948 condos sold vs 863 last year. The average sales price for a condo in Boston was $563K vs $549K last year, a 3% increase. Days on market were even down 10% to 113 for many reasons including the lack of inventory.

In the Back Bay the number of condos sold was up 19% to 115 versus 97 sold in 2011. The average sold price for condos was down slightly by 2% to $1.299M. On Beacon Hill the number of condo properties sold was down 7% to 40 versus 43 in 2011. The average sales price for condos on Beacon Hill was up 8% to $836K versus $777 last year.

In Boston’s favorite neighborhood, the South End, the number of condos sold through April was up 22% compared to 101 in 2011. The average sales price for those condos sold was down a modest 3% to $659K vs $682K last year.

In what has become one of the most active markets in the city, South Boston, all the news is good. The average price of condos sold YTD was up 5% to $414K, from $393K last year. The number of condos sold was up 17% to 123 from 105 last year, and average days on market was down 30% to 102 days vs 145 days last year. South Boston is happening! And with 143 condos on the market vs 254 last year, a 43% decrease this neighborhood is bound to remain hot!

 

 

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analytics general info

The Goode and Farmer Report – Boston Q1 Update

Excellent news for Boston is that condominium sales rose in the first quarter when compared with last year. All Boston neighborhoods combined saw an 8% increase in sales from 572 last year to 616 this year. Increased sales meant increased dollar volume in most neighborhoods. South Boston leads the way  in percentage increase with a 32% increase from last year to $33M in sales volume. . All Boston neighborhoods combined saw a 5% increase in sales volume from $321M to $338M.

The average sales price for a condo in Back Bay decreased 4% to $1,263K but the number of units sold increased 6% to 72.

On Beacon Hill the average sales price for a condo decreased 10% to $860K but the number of condos sold increased wildly by 30% to 30. Interestingly total days on market decreased by 37% to 114 days versus 180 days last year.

In the South End the number of units sold increased by 21% to 78 condo properties, also a very strong but not surprising increase, given the demand we are seeing in the neighborhood.

As mentioned South Boston saw a 32% increase in sales volume representing 19% increase in sale units. The average sales price increased 8% to $410K from $379K last year. If this were a competition, South Boston takes first place with these numbers… and average days on market decreased by 30% which is yet another indication of the demand for South Boston properties.

In general with sales up everywhere, and inventory still very low, the supply and demand dynamic is firmly in place. We are in the key Spring selling season and inventory is needed to maintain the strong sales pace we have seen so far.

 

 

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trends

T’was the Week Before Christmas And All Through The Real Estate Office…

What a week last week was in the Boston South End office of Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage. Agents were uncharacteristically busy for the week before Christmas. Showing levels increased on many properties that have languished on the market for months. Six under agreements came in in the last 3 days. It’s as if folks realized the year is about to end, and oooops! Realized they forgot to buy a condo!

A number of agents were rushing past my office frantically scheduling multiple last-minute showings on their properties. “You want to see the property at 6PM Friday evening, the night before Christmas Eve? Of course we can schedule that!” I heard negotiations between buyers who had walked away from negotiations a week ago and sellers who were willing to revive those negotiations, finally come to an agreement. We have had several closings that had been postponed finally close and others will close this coming week.

What does this year end flurry of activity mean? It might be simply that the weather outside was 50 and sunny. It might be some year-end pent up demand or it could be just the natural urgency in negotiations that typically occur at the end of every year. Whatever it is, it is welcome. Year-end sales figures will ultimately give us the answers.

As the year winds down conversations around the office and in our last business meeting invariably end up being about what business will look like in 2012? Interestingly, with all the challenges we have faced in 2011 – from financing problems, to a shortage of inventory, to tough negotiations – agents are very positive and upbeat going into the New Year. I think that for agents who have learned to work successfully through the challenges in this “new real estate normal,” they have come out the other side with a renewed confidence in their ability to succeed and with a more positive attitude for the year ahead. This is surely a good sign for all of us for 2012.

Have a wonderful holiday week.