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* Neighborhoods
covered: Back Bay,
Bay Village,
Beacon Hill, Charlestown, Chinatown,
Fenway,
Leather Dist.,
Midtown, N. End,
Seaport,
S. End,
S. Bos, Theater District,
Waterfront, W. End.
The chart at the top says it all...After
the tax credit ended on April 30, we went from a 3 year high in
activity to a 3 year low. You may recall that I said that I didn't
think that the tax credit was having that much of an effect in the
downtown areas.
I
was wrong. Wrong, wrong, wrong.
But...Here we
are in the dog days of summer, and market activity is actually
picking up! If
you want to get all worried about the real estate market here in
downtown Boston, you're
talking to the wrong guy. Here's what I think (and I reserve the
right to be wrong again):
1. I think the
extraordinarily high level of activity through March and April
was due to people who would've normally bought later in the Spring and Summer
taking advantage of the tax credit. I still don't think that the tax
credit really brought that many people into the market in the
downtown areas. The properties are just priced too high and the
average income is way too high for the tax credit to have enticed so
many buyers around here. So in my view, that high level of activity was a distortion, and
the current low level is also a distortion and I think what we are
seeing right now is an evening out.
2. Median prices
are rising right now. I think thast this is more about an
increased number of higher priced property beginning to move rather
than price increases. We have been seeing more price reductions , and more people will be pulled into the market by
that. I actually think that this is a more buyer friendly environment
right now.
3. Low low low
interest rates will continue for the foreseeable future.
4. The economy.
It's all about the jobs. And the job situation here has been
gradually improving.
I think that
those who are able to purchase right now will be asking
themselves when, exactly, a better time would be.
So that line on
the graph is going to straighten out. Relax. Have some
dinner and I recommend a cocktail, too. It's gonna be OK.
Really.
_____________________________________________________________
The market does not behave as a whole, in
unison. It is divided into geographic and financial segments, which
are all behaving differently.
The pages linked to the buttons on the left will
give you a great deal of info about market behavior. This
includes $/SF, asking-selling differential, as well as lots of other
stuff.
And as always, if you'd like to search the
current inventory, click on the "Search Listings"
tab above.
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