Boston.com’s Scott Voorhis kindly interviewed yours truly, via email, about the tight apartment-rental market these days in Boston. And, believe me, it’s a tight market these days, with landlords having the upper hand in negotiations.

The BBJ has a list of the most expensive single-family home sales between June 1, 2012 and Jan. 15, 2013 (sub. required). The top position goes to 115 Commonwealth in the Back Bay, selling at $10.6 million for 7,461 square feet, seven bedrooms and 6 bathrooms. Next on the list is 333 Lee Street, in [...]

The latest S&P/Case Shiller report came out today, showing that home prices in the U.S. rose by a strong 5.5 percent in November, with particular strength in the Sun Belt areas. Prices in metro Boston fell month-over-month in November by just under 1 percent. But overall prices for the year are up by 2.3 percent [...]

Maybe it won’t be as busy as the apartment building boom now under way in Seaport, Fenway and the Back Bay. But yesterday’s groundbreaking for the first phase of the Portside at Pier One (176 units at a cost of $67 million) could usher in a mini-building boom along East Boston’s waterfront. Three other waterfront [...]

The Boston Herald isn’t alone in selling off its old print and newsroom facilities and moving into leased spaces elsewhere, as the newspaper industry continues it long decline. Other newspapers across the country are also starting to sell their real estate, as they try to extract as much value as possible out of their assets. [...]

The developers of Lovejoy Wharf are getting some city tax breaks to help them proceed with the $230 million project, which includes Converse eventually moving hundreds of employees into the future renovated building. And, boy, does the building need renovation. The tax breaks are expected to offset some of the costs of rebuilding and extending [...]

Here’s an excellent overview piece that tracks the 12 largest private developments now under way in Boston as we enter 2013. The numbers are almost staggering: $2.7 billion in construction at 12 locations with the final goal of producing about 2,157 housing units, not to mention all the extra retail, office and lab space included [...]

The short answer is: No, Boston is not building too many apartments, according to Frank Petz of Jones, Lang, LaSalle. From Petz: There is always a risk of overbuilding, but there are plenty of factors that justify the amount of development activity. There is strong demand with all the people moving into the city. There [...]

Boston.com has a good list of the top Boston business stories in 2012. Though it’s unclear if they’re ranking them in terms of importance (and we assume they’re not, since “Safety practices at Walmart contractors” can’t possibly be No. 1, nor Amazon’s decision to collect state sales taxes, as important as that may be), two [...]

Whether you call it Downtown Crossing or Midtown or Downtown or just the Washington Street area, the once rather seedy, rundown section of Boston’s old retail district is really taking off. The Globe has a big front page spread on all the changes, including a terrific graphic showing all the current or planned new buildings [...]