The Boston Globe says that the general real estate slowdown is being felt worse in some places than in others. While sales volume is off everywhere, the median prices of single-family homes have increased in several Massachusetts cities and towns.

While the state’s overall real estate market is sluggish, several communities have seen higher home prices in the first half of 2008 than in 2007 (though 2008 prices are in many cases still under 2006 figures). Some of the biggest increases in Eastern Massachusetts belong to:

Median prices for single-family homes

TOWN - FIRST HALF OF 2006 - FIRST HALF OF 2007 - FIRST HALF OF 2008

Brookline $975,000 $965,000 $1,065,000
Canton $493,000 $410,000 $463,700
Carlisle $850,000 $755,000 $850,000
Hamilton $510,000 $413,000 $550,000
Jamaica Plain $559,000 $440,500 $494,000
Norfolk $460,000 $405,000 $475,000
Salisbury $353,000 $251,000 $305,000
Sherborn $851,500 $640,500 $857,750
Southborough $690,400 $436,800 $533,000
Wellesley $932,000 $966,250 $1,084,500
West Newbury $652,500 $465,000 $570,000
Winchester $778,500 $649,900 $757,500

Source: The Warren Group, by way of The Boston Globe

The area near the MBTA’s Broadway Red Line stop is rapidly changing.

Last week, the land underneath the Quiet Man Pub, at 11 West Broadway (et al) quietly traded hands. The seller, Paul Mustone, through Leachmore Point LLC, sold the property to 11 West LLC for $4,475.000.

The parcel has already been approved for a 64-unit condominium project, with retail on the first floor … and 69 underground parking spaces (that’s gonna add to the cost just a little, don’t you think?).

In August 2007, a representative from the Pappas Enterprises empire told the West Broadway Neighborhood Association that the company, which built the adjacent Court Square Press and Macallen Building projects, had purchased the land.

Whether that happened and/or whether the land has now switched hands again, is unknown.

Based on what I see, that sale never happened and this recent sale is the only one that transferred ownership to a new corporation; presumably, under control of the Pappas family.

Closings have begun in the new Residences at the Mandarin Oriental in Boston’s Back Bay neighborhood. So far, the county deeds office has registered three sales:

E9-C $4,450,000, 2,915+/- SF, 3 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms, 2 parking spaces, storage, $1,526 / SF
E10-B $4,095,830, 2,386+/- SF, 2 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms, 1 parking space, storage, $1,716 / SF
W9-D $2,950,000, 2,424+/- SF, 2 bedrooms w/study, 3 bathrooms, 1 parking space, storage, $1,216 / SF

As you can see, price per square foot jumps considerably, for the higher floors, and the East building seems to carry a premium over the West, although three sales do not make a trend. (The East building is to your left, looking at the front of 776 Boylston Street, if I’m not mistaken.)

The lower floors of the buildings host the 150-room, 5-star hotel. Also onsite is a private landscaped courtyard and health club open to residents and hotel guests.

Within a week or two, the new enclosed “Newbury Arcade” connecting Lord & Taylor’s Boston store to the Mandarin Oriental Hotel and Shops at the Prudential Center, and eventually a mix of restaurants and high-end retailers will open shops in the complex.

Several units have come on the resale market. Contact me for more information.

The following information is from the local MLS database as of September 6, 2008, compared to (August 30, 2008) (and September 8, 2007).

Total # of condos for sale in the city of Boston: 1,964 (1,919) (2,272)
Average # of days on market: 136 (141) (130)

Number of condos sold over past 30 days: 468 (522) (467)
Average days on market, sold units: 91 (86) (92)
Ratio, closing/sales price to original/list price: 93% (94%) (94%)

Median close price, 2008: $373,750
Median close price, 2007: $359,000
Median under agreement price, 2008: $339,250

Average close price, 2008: $442,302
Average close price, 2007: $436,526
Average under agreement price, 2008: $466,590

# of properties going under agreement, last 30 days: 286 (313) (228)
Average days on market: 99 (99) (N/A)

Velocity: $206,997,148 ($226,015,047) ($203,857,659)
(Velocity is the # of units sold during last 30 days multiplied by the $ amount)

My thoughts: No, seriously, we have a drought of listings right now.

Based on information provided to and compiled by MLS Property Information Network, Inc. covering the period 8/06/2008 - 9/06/2008, and the period 8/8/2007 - 9/8/2007.

Sounds as if it’s a great time to take out a loan!

According to the New York Times:

Senior officials from the Bush administration and the Federal Reserve on Friday called in top executives of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the mortgage finance giants, and told them that the government was preparing to place the two companies under federal control, officials and company executives briefed on the discussions said.

The plan, which would place the companies into a conservatorship, was outlined in separate meetings with the chief executives at the office of the companies’ new regulator. The executives were told that, under the plan, they and their boards would be replaced and shareholders would be virtually wiped out, but that the companies would be able to continue functioning with the government generally standing behind their debt, people briefed on the discussions said.

Borders Bookstore, 9/5/2008