All eyes have been focused on the local housing market this year. The Massachusetts Association of Realtors and the Warren Group just released their data summarizing January 2008 Sales and both indicated a huge drop in activity from a year ago in both the single family and condominium markets ~ statewide.
As I noted in previous posts, the local Boston market has not shown the same trend as the statewide figures indicate. A quick look at actual Back Bay transactions as recorded in LINK demonstrates that Boston’s condominium market has in fact remained stable from a year ago. We did not see the same 30% drop of in activity as reported in the statewide summary.
January 2008 ~ 36 Sales — Avg. Selling Price: $1,256,739 — Median Selling Price: $710,000 — Avg. $/SF: $823 — Avg. DOM: 118
January 2007 ~ 35 Sales – Avg. Selling Price: $1,034,329 — Median Selling Price: $656,000 — Avg. $/SF: $698 — Avg. DOM: 95
Consumer confidence can be influenced by such overgeneralizations. My clients appreciate my experience as a Realtor in researching actual market data to provide a more accurate snapshot of market trends in their particular niche market or neighborhood.
I am often asked … Is the housing slump over ? Have prices hit rock bottom yet ? What is the current value of my home ? As a first time buyer, is now a good time to buy ?
MA Association of Realtors January 2008 Data reflects …. The condominium market also experienced a significant decrease in the number of units sold this January, with a 34 percent drop compared to January of last year (from 1,271 units sold in 2007 to 843 units sold in 2008). On a month-to-month basis, condominium sales were down 24 percent compared to 1,107 units sold in December.
Boston Herald reports .. Sales hit new lows ~ Bay State home, condo prices down in Jan.
By Jerry Kronenberg | Tuesday, February 26, 2008 Massachusetts house sales tumbled nearly 30 percent last month to their lowest January levels on record, new figures show…… making it the worst January in the 21 years Warren has tracked sales using current methods. In fact, the market hasn’t seen this few sales in any month since February 1991.
Condo sales fared even worse, dropping 36 percent to just 1,135 units changing hands, the Warren Group said.
The firm added that the median condo price fell 1.5 percent while the median house value dropped 4.4 percent.
“We are an expensive place where house prices rose a lot during the boom, so I’m not surprised that things have slowed considerably,” Wellesley College housing economist Karl Case said.
Case blames much of the latest downturn on foreclosures, stricter lending standards and other woes hitting lower-priced housing.
“The lower tier is pulling everything down,” he said. “If you talk to brokers outside of Mattapan, New Bedford, Fall River and other places with lots of foreclosures, there’s actually a considerable amount of sales activity going on.”
Case believes the market’s middle- and higher-price segments, which he defines as houses costing $312,000 or more, could begin stabilizing as early as June.
