According to MLS out of the 174 Back Bay condos listed, 45 of those units had a price change in the last 30 days.
Click on Back Bay chart to enlarge.

A snapshot of the Back Bay condo market as of February 16, 2011:
Number of Back Bay condos for sale: 174
Days-on-market for current Back Bay listings: 184.28
Average list price for a Back Bay condo: $1,679,751.00
Price per sq ft. for a Back Bay condo: $779.00

From today’s Wall Street Journal article “Banks Push Home Buyers To Put Down More Cash”:
The median down payment in nine major U.S. cities rose to 22% last year on properties purchased through conventional mortgages, according to an analysis for the Wall Street Journal by real-estate portal Zillow.com. That percentage doubled in three years and represents [...]

From Curb.com:
 Zillow’s roundup of Homes of Grammy Nominees includes the Bel Air, Calif., estate of a One Miss Lady Gaga, except—oh, wait—the 6,000-square-foot manse isn’t actually hers. The pop icon pays $25K a month to live in the Mediterranean-style home, despite the fact that it’s on the market for $4.475M. We haven’t seen the interior [...]

File under: I have such friendly neighbors.

Today’s real estate quote of the day is from an article on the front page of The Wall Street Journal:
If there is a scenario where the government talks about raising down payments to 20% on conventional loans, you would absolutely crush the housing market
- Peter Norden, chief executive of Real Estate Mortgage Network

The way Boston  buyers start their search for condos and townhouses is continuously changing with the internet. Today, more than ever before its important to provide as much information on a Boston condo listing, especially when it comes to pictures or virtual tours.
This past week, I had a conversation with a new  Boston agent who called [...]

Click photo to enlarge.
File under: I can’t understand why she didn’t like my Valentines gift.

Back in the 1990’s durring  the Clinton administration the U.S. housing policy seemed to assume that more home ownership was always better.
The Clinton administration even launched the “National Homeownership Strategy,” whose stated goal was to “attempt to help all American households become homeowners.” If I’m not mistaken our Massachusetts Rep Barney Frank was a big advocate of this home ownership [...]

Do you think a Back Bay luxury townhome is less or more expensive now compared to 2004?  Before you answer, lets look at the sales numbers.
January 1, 2004 – December 31, 2004
Number of Back Bay townhouses that sold – 13
Average Back Bay townhome sales price – $3,542,231.00
Median Back Bay townhome sales price – $2,950,000.00
Average Back [...]