12 Responses to “Boston Luxury Condos – The word on the Street …” »»

1. Rich
   Comment by Rich | 12/02/09 at 10:59 am

   Hi John,

   Any sense how many units at the Clarendon have been pre-sold?

   Also will there be any W closings this year?

   Rich

2. condobuyer
   Comment by condobuyer | 12/02/09 at 11:08 am

   By the way, where is the “W” officially located as far as sales go?

   December/Jan will probably look better for Bostondue to the 1st wave of closings from W and Clarendon. What will be telling is the late winter/early spring market. Will their fate be like 45P or will sales continue into summer??

3. Bradley
   Comment by Bradley | 12/02/09 at 11:41 am

   LOL I’m not gonna make any predictions on this one. Obviously I missed it with the Bryant.

   Oddly ennough, it feels to me like ultra high end new developments are having a rough go of it, whereas existing properties are having no problem selling, usually close to, at, or above asking. I wonder why??

4. Mary
   Comment by Mary | 12/02/09 at 1:25 pm

   “whereas existing properties are having no problem selling, usually close to, at, or above asking. I wonder why??”

   Really now above asking? list a handful….

   Here are the sales stats for October 2009 using 02116 and 02115:

   02115:

   Median Sold $/SqFt. $534 down 19.6% from Oct 2008.

   02116:

   Median Sold $/SqFt. $605 down 13.8% from Oct 2008.

5. Bradley supporter
   Comment by Bradley supporter | 12/02/09 at 3:27 pm

   Mary, you need to Chill Out. Good comments Bradley!

6. Lynn D
   Comment by Lynn D | 12/02/09 at 6:18 pm

   You have your data mix up. 02115 went up, not down, year to year and 02116 went dwnn only because Zero Marlborough closed last year.

7. Mike
   Comment by Mike | 12/03/09 at 3:47 am

   As far as existing properties selling better than new units, my guess is the developers of the new units have a price “baked in” that they planned on when they commenced building. Those prices were probably set in 2006-2007, so likely are at peak. Developers focus closely on the bottom line so they probably have little room to change their pricing – selling at today’s prices means projects will take a loss, and no one wants to recognize that. They may also have sufficient capital to ride out the downturn (or they think they do).

   Remember, unlike residential mortgages, commercial mortgages (that funded much of these buildings) can’t be prepaid without steep penalties so the developers have less incentive to monetize their properties quickly. When the loans come due however, the pressure is on and prices may fall.

   Individual sellers on the other hand usually need to monetize their investments quickly, either to reduce the strain of interest expense (for investors) or because they have other reasons for moving (job relocation, family changes, etc.). Ironically, right now they are probably quicker than their financially astute commercial brethren to adjust asking prices to reflect today’s markets.

   Just one theory.

   Mike

8. condobuyer
   Comment by condobuyer | 12/03/09 at 11:22 am

   Mike,

   I agree with several of your points. However, I actually think ego plays an big role in developer pricing/negotiating. I don’t know if it’s about taking a loss or just that they usually have a pretty big margin built in from the start and don’t want to reduce profit until they absolutely have to…

9. Mary
   Comment by Mary | 12/03/09 at 12:34 pm

   “You have your data mix up”

   Hi Lynn,

   No mix up, these numbers are on Redfin for October 2009. You maybe looking at a different data set.

   Everything was down for 02116 except sales. Median price was a beat down:

   Median Sold Price : $525K down 35.7%

10. Mike
    Comment by Mike | 12/04/09 at 4:04 am

    Hi Condobuyer –

    I agree, but ego also plays a big part in non-developer pricing, so I’m not sure it’s a “difference” between the two.

    Mike

11. ChaosFreak
    Comment by ChaosFreak | 12/07/09 at 6:59 am

    I walked through both The Clarendon and The W, and placed offers on units in both. The agents told me, respectively, that Clarendon has roughly 30 units either under agreement or “promised” internally, and the W has around 20. I can confirm that both of these developers still think it’s 2007… they’re asking for prices in the $1100 psf and above range, and they’re not willing to negotiate much.

12. John Ford
    Comment by John Ford | 12/07/09 at 7:53 am

    I was just told that the Clarendon will be obtaining their Certificate of Occupancy on Thursday of this week.

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