January 2009 Boston real estate market outlook: Boston single-family homes for sale – 279 Number of Boston condos for sale – 1,563 Single-family homes under agreement – 46 # of Boston condos under agreement – 188 Boston single-family homes sold – 42 Number of Boston condos sold – 131 My thoughts: The bad news first, [...]

The following information is from the local MLS database as of January 31, 2009, compared to (January 24, 2009) and (February 2, 2008). Total # of condos for sale in the city of Boston: 1,615 (1,608) (2,025) Average # of days on market: 151 (152) (147) Number of condos sold, past 30 days: 139 (148) [...]

Please Pardon Our Appearance would make a good title for a post-Apocalyptic movie involving zombies living in old subway stations: Source: Universal Hub Arlington T Stop.

The Boston Globe’s front page has an article on how excusive merchants on Newbury Street are closing shops at high rate. Will Newbury Street turn into a outside Mall with just chain stores?

From the Daily Record: Although mortgage rates have settled into a trading range — in the mid 5 percent range — in the last week, Fannie Mae is going to make it a little bit tougher for many borrowers to get the very best possible rates in the coming months. The mortgage giant that is [...]

Freddie Mac released the results of its Primary Mortgage Market Survey (PMMS) in which the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage (FRM) averaged 5.10 percent with an average 0.7 point for the week ending January 29, 2009, down from last week when it averaged 5.12 percent. Last year at this time, the 30-year FRM averaged 5.68 percent.

The Massachusetts Association of REALTORS (MAR) – reported yesterday that single-family homes sales were up 3.2 percent in December compared to the same time last year. While median prices continue to go down, this is the third month in the last four to experience sales increases. Despite these sales gains, 2008 closed with single-family home [...]

Presently, MLS has 65 Boston condos listed for short sales. Almost all of them are in Dorchester or Mattapan. However, there is one listed in the Boston Waterfront at the Folio, 80 Broad Street. Don’t all rush at once the Folio listing has been on the market for for over 200 days.

As most of you know in 2009, (somewhere between February and June) all television broadcasts are moving to digital. Which means older TV’s will be required to have a converter box that can receive the digital signal. What you might not know is that the Federal Government may spend over $1.3 billion to help people [...]

The following is from MLS data. Number of NEW Boston condos listed – 58 Number of Boston condos re-listed with another company – 11 Number of Boston condos under agreement- 47 Number of Boston condos sold – 12 Please note that this data is from MLS. John Keith will have more stats from MLS today [...]