Boston Real Estate for Sale

For those who like to compare numbers, here’s some.

Data is from MLS PIN, for condo sales throughout the entire city of Boston.

Total # of sales, March, 2004: 278
Total # of sales, March, 2005: 310
Total # of sales, March, 2006: 353 (um, bubble, what?)

Lowest, highest priced sale, March, 2004: $103,000, $5,200,000 (whoa!)
Lowest, highest priced sale, March, 2005: $130,000, $3,375,000
Lowest, highest priced sale, March, 2006: $129,900, $3,400,000

Median price, average price, March, 2004: $317,000, $394,000
Median price, average price, March, 2005: $333,000, $450,000
Median price, average price, March, 2006: $339,000, $462,000

Sales price to original price, March, 2004: 93%
Sales price to original price, March, 2005: 95%
Sales price to original price, March, 2006: 92%

Sales, March, 2004, March, 2005, March, 2006

$100,000 – $149,000 11, 3, 2
$150,000 – $199,000 29, 21, 11
$200,000 – $249,000 44, 33, 35
$250,000 – $299,000 41, 61, 59
$300,000 – $349,000 35, 51, 54
$350,000 – $399,000 31, 25, 54
$400,000 – $449,000 20, 27, 29
$450,000 – $499,000 14, 19, 20
$500,000 – $599,000 21, 22, 29
$600,000 – $699,000 12, 15, 12
$700,000 – $799,000 8, 7, 13
$800,000 – $899,000 2, 3, 7
$900,000 – $999,000 2, 4, 9
$1.m – $2.m 6, 13, 15
$2.m – $3.m 1, 3, 5
$3.m – $4.m 0, 1, 1
$5.m+ 1, 0, 0

Regarding sales prices, what I see is pretty much everything under $200,000 disappeared, throughout the ENTIRE city, after 2004. Presumably, because of lower interest rates, giving people more buying power, which led to (because of a lack of supply) a rapid increase in offer and sales prices.

There were still a fair number of sales in the $200,000 – $300,000 range, in 2005 and 2006, but, of course, this data doesn’t break down square footage, and it’s very possible that the properties sold in this price range started getting a lot smaller in size. I believe that is probably what happened.

There was a pretty big jump in condo sales in the $300,000 – $400,000 range. I believe this is also a matter of the properties getting smaller in size. For example, you used to be able to get a small two-bedroom in the South End for under $400,000 (well, under $450,000), but in the past two years, the only condos available under $500,000 were one-bedroom, 600 – 700 square foot condos. What you’re seeing here is young couples pooling their funds in order to buy whatever they could get for their money, even though it may have been smaller than they wished.

Sales in the $450,000 – $600,000 have stayed strong, throughout the three years. It would probably cost you at least $600,000 today to get the same space and quality that you could have gotten for $450,000, just three years ago.

Surprisingly, even to me, the above-$700,000 range has stayed very strong, and gotten stronger. The $800,000 – $900,000, $900,000 – $1.0 million, and $1.0 million – $2.0 million dollar range homes have continued to sell, presumably because people in this price range are less affected by rising interest rates (the rich pay cash, baby). Also, perhaps, some of the sales recorded in the current year are properties in brand new developments, that went under contract, six months to a year ago. I’ll check. (NOPE. I checked. Most of the purchases in the $1.0 million+ range were the typical stuffy old condos in the Back Bay, plus several purchases in the new Otello building, down near South Station.)

The prize for most expensive purchase (at least in March, going back three years) goes to the young lady (?) who bought a 3400 square foot condo on Beacon Street for $5.2 million, back in 2004.

Contact me to find or to set up an appointment to start your Boston condo buying process.

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Updated: January 2018

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