A new study on real estate price was conducted by MIT and CBRE Econometric Advisors. It addresses the question whether or not the current market is actually a “buy” market. A big “booooo” because Boston is missing from the detailed data! In any event, the answer is basically if you take the post 2002 bubble years out of the equation, much of the housing market is still overpriced. If you factor those years in … it’s not so bad. The report is short, if you want to look yourself, here it is.

We can’t take credit for this idea — Scott Van Voorhis over at the Real Estate Now blog actually wrote about this earlier this week. The idea is that there’s positive news coming from the National Home Builders Association annual meeting in Orlando … and no one is really buying it. Maybe it’s because everyone is expecting 2011 to be the highwater mark for foreclosures. Just remember, Boston real estate is a different breed. Add your own pinch of salt to all national real estate news.

Click Beacon Hill sales chart to enlarge.

Beacon Hill condo sales 2005 – 2010

Beacon Hill condo sales 2005 – 300

Beacon Hill condo sales 2006 – 203

Beacon Hill condo sales 2007 – 213

Beacon Hill condo sales 2008 – 220

Beacon Hill condo sales 2009 – 178

Beacon Hill condo sales 2010 – 165

Source: LINK

View new Beacon Hill condo listings.

Click on real estate chart to enlarge.

Zillow home values comparing 10/1/08 with 10/1/10:

Boston average home value 10/1/08 – $359,000

Boston average home value 10/1/10 – $379,000

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Boston South End average home value 10/1/08 – $609,000

Boston South End average home value 10/1/10 – $549,000

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Boston Beacon Hill average home value 10/1/08 – $653,000

Boston Beacon Hill average home value 10/1/10 – $749,000

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Boston Back Bay average home value 10/1/08 – $870,000

Boston Back Bay average home value 10/1/10 – $829,000

Click on real estate chart to enlarge. 

From Bloomberg’s chart of the day:

“Levkovich drew the conclusion by tracking the equity in single-family homes and other owner-occupied real estate as a percentage of U.S. household net worth, using data compiled by the Federal Reserve.

As the CHART OF THE DAY illustrates, home equity accounted for 16.2 percent of net worth at the end of the second quarter, the Fed’s data showed. The first quarter’s figure, 15.4 percent, was the lowest in more than half a century.

Housing no longer has the effect on consumer confidence that it did when home prices were surging in the past decade, Levkovich wrote in an Oct. 29 report that included a similar chart. Equity in owner-occupied real estate peaked in the fourth quarter of 2005 at 25.5 percent of net worth.”

File Under: The use-your-home-as-an-ATM national culture is OVER!