Our analysis of average price per square foot values in downtown Boston neighborhoods continues with Boston’s North End. Price per square foot, as we will see, is in line with the rest of the city, however, the one significant difference that we are seeing year on year with the North End is the number of units sold. January to July 2007 saw approximately 53 condos sold in the North End, while the same time period for this year has seen only 34 sold, a substantial difference.

Nonetheless, in 2008, the average price per square foot in the North End has been approximately $578 (median of $562). The data range, covering nearly 34 condos, runs from $327 to $885 per square foot. The lowest being $327 per square foot at 21 Moon Street Unit 4, a 726 square foot condo in need of renovation work. The average price per square foot of $578 is characteristic of Unit 2 at 10 Sheafe Street, a 529 square foot 1+ duplex that sold for $305,000 in April after being on the market for approximately 140 days. The high end was at 44 Prince Street Unit 501, a 1,150 square foot three-exposure unit in the new high-end development that sold in May for $995,000 ($885 per square foot).

The North End, and almost all downtown neighborhoods that border the Waterfront area, can oftentimes be a little skewed when looking at the data because there is no consistent way in which real estate agents code the condos they are selling (i.e. one agent may code a property North End, while another may have coded a similarly located property Waterfront). As with any statistics, you need to understand the limitations of the data and factors that could impact the numbers, such as the aforementioned location issue.

Note: data pulled from the Boston MLS.

As we turn towards the second half of the year, and Sellers deliberate listing their condos for sale, one of the questions we receive most often revolves around what a realistic price per square foot is in various downtown Boston neighborhoods. This type of information is also very useful for Buyers to have as well, to help set expectations about what realistic price points are in particular neighborhoods.

In 2008, the average price per square foot in the South End has been approximately $613 (median of $612). The data range, covering nearly 300 condos, runs from $340 to $997 per square foot. The lowest being $340 per square foot at 162 Appleton Street Unit 1, a large garden level unit that sold in March after being on the market for an accumulated year of activity. The high end was at 290 Columbus Avenue Unit 3, a 316 square foot pied-a-terre that sold after only 24 days on the market (Note: data pulled from the Boston MLS).

We’ll continue to look at the other downtown Boston neighborhoods, all of which we provide assistance in both helping Sellers list their condo for sale, and Buyers purchase the right condo for their needs. When looking at housing statistics, be careful not to only focus on averages, also consider median values (the number in the middle of your data), because averages can be pulled significantly one way or the other with only a small number of outlying data points.