On the same day the Boston Herald posts an editorial calling for voters to vote “Yes” on Question 2, the repeal of the “affordable housing law,” the Boston Globe reports on a housing study that says Boston rents will remain high for the foreseeable future. The study is mostly a yawner, stating that the housing [...]

Massachusetts home sales over the first eight months of 2010 are up more than 9 percent over the comparable period in 2009. In addition, the median price of a single-family home is up 3.9 percent in August to $315,000 from $303,000 a year earlier. On a month-to-month basis, condominium sales were up 13.2 percent compared [...]

Here’s a peek at the cut-throat world of New York’s luxury apartment sales these days. Reading the piece and thinking of Boston, it’s almost like a baseball manager walking out to the mound in the seventh inning, reaching out for the ball with one hand and waving in the relief with the other. Starting pitchers [...]

More signs that the economy is improving, the Patriot Ledger reports: The Cape and Islands summer rental market is rebounding from an anemic season in 2009, when economic downdrafts put a damper on vacation plans. Now, the most sought-after listings – oceanfront cottages available from mid-July through mid-August – are leasing quickly, and high-end properties [...]

Scott Van Voorhris has an interesting article over at Boston.com regarding the Boston luxury condo market. Will Kaufman a market analyst for Otis & Ahern claims that the downtown luxury condos are a hot product. There were 101 sales of condos for more than $1 million through the first six months of the year. That’s [...]

Will luxury condo foreclosures be next? Charlesgate Realty just listed a bank owned luxury condo for sale at 10 Museum Way (The Regatta). The pre-foreclosure price for this two bedroom condo was $539,000.00 and was on the market for a year. It has been re-listed on MLS, now that the bank owns it, with an [...]

John posted earlier today about the Nouvelle at Natick auction. Now check out the comments in Nouvelle’s local newspaper in Framingham. They make good points about 1. The condo fees 2. The taxes. This wasn’t necessarily a deal for your average penny-pinching homeowner. So don’t regret too much you didn’t make it to the auction. [...]

A roofing company claims it is still owed more than $326,000 for its role in building the luxury condos at the Natick mall. Silktown Roofing Inc. of Manchester, Conn., filed a lien notice in the federal bankruptcy case for General Growth Properties Inc., the Chicago company that owns the Natick Collection and adjacent residences. In [...]

This is a story of a New Jersey firefighter whose family is the sole occupant of a high rise apartment tower in Fort Myers, Florida which has been making the rounds. The oddity of it is generating a bemused buzz on real estate blogs, with Google News identifying 507 articles on it. FORT MYERS, Fla. [...]

In lots of condo buildings, valet parking is considered a mark of luxury. But depending on the valet it can also be annoying when you’re not in the mood for interacting with other people. There’s always the question of how much to tip. And what I hear from those living at the Boston Ritz towers [...]