When developers Peter and Elizabeth Georgantas paid $2.25 million for a run-down 1860s Beacon Hill brownstone on Brimmer Street about four years ago, they saw the potential for a large profit. But in September 2008, just as the couple put the 5,700-square-foot building up for sale for $8.95 million, the luxury market took a hit. [...]

The key test for a durable [housing] recovery comes in the next few months as the credit deadline approaches.
- Lawrence Yun

Some excerpts on housing from San Francisco Fed President Janet Yellen:
It was housing of course that led the economy down. The great bust wiped out some $7 trillion in home values. In the second half of 2009 though, housing showed signs of stabilizing and I became hopeful that the sector would provide a significant boost [...]

Boston condo sales inventory per neighborhood:
Back Bay condos
Number of listings 2009 – 238
Number of listings 2010 – 274
Beacon Hill condos
Number of listings 2009 – 79
Number of listings 2010 – 86
Charlestown condos
Number of listings 2009 – 150
Number of listings 2010 – 142
Fenway condos
Number of listings 2009 – 46
Number of listings 2010 – 76
J.P. condos
Number of listings [...]

Okay, lets try this again. Below are repeat sales of condos priced $800,000 and up.
1/1/08 – 3/20/08
Number of condos sold – 86
Avg. sales price -$1,683,925
Med. sales price – $1,320,000
Avg. price per sq ft – $811
__________________________
1/1/09 – 3/20/09
Number of condo sales – 46
Avg. sales price – $1,644,750
Med. sales price – $1,245,000
Avg. price per sq. ft. – [...]

Gibson Sotheby’s is deeply saddened to announce the passing of our colleague Denise Cogliano at the age 38.

Visiting hours for Denise will be held on Tuesday, March 23 (4-8pm) at the Dockray Thomas Funeral Home at 455 Washington St, Canton, MA.
Funeral Mass will held for Denise at St. Gerard Majella Church at 1860 Washington Street, [...]

Want some good real estate deals? They may be available in the Fort Point area if nine properties there are forced into foreclosure.
Wells Fargo Bank has set a May 5 sale of the parcels after Berkeley Investment defaulted on mortgages, the Herald is reporting.
This is a potentially big setback for the area, where Berkeley has [...]

I understand that some readers are questioning the Boston luxury condo sales stats for 2010 that I’ve provided to the press. With that said, I just feel that this years sales are on the upswing for the luxury condo market. I contend that the arguments some readers might post against the improvements of the [...]

Though signs of recovery in the housing market are emerging, many are still in danger of losing their homes to foreclosure–some of them even face losing two or three homes.
The problem is especially visible in areas that attracted speculative buyers during the boom, for example Dorchester MA. Multiple foreclosures are “probably more common in [...]

Scott Van Voorhis just wrote a positive article about the Boston downtown condo market in the Banker & Tradesman web site blog.
And so far this year, 28 downtown condos have sold for more than $1,000 a square foot, a key price indicator of multimillion-dollar sales. That is three times the number of such units during [...]