In a Wall Street Journal article today entitled ‘Steep Home-Price Drop Stirs Fears’, Kelly Evans finally spent some time covering the concept that all of the press, statistics, and news that continue to hit the market regarding housing prices across the country may not be entirely applicable to city centers such as New York and Boston.

Notably, the S&P/Case-Shiller survey found that prices in the New York City metropolitan area declined, even though most local real-estate agents say prices for expensive condominiums in Manhattan continue to surge. There are two explanations for the difference. First, the S&P/Case-Shiller survey covers only single-family homes, not condominiums and cooperatives, which dominate the Manhattan market. Also, while prices are still rising in parts of the city, they are starting to decline in the suburbs.

Sound familiar? Oddly enough (sarcastically), Boston (proper) is mainly composed of condominiums, and when we speak about housing statistics (at least on this blog), we are speaking about the city center, as opposed to the suburbs (or including the suburbs).

“There’s a divergence between what’s going on with suburban homes and the apartment/condo market in the city center,” said Standard & Poor’s Vice President and index committee member Maureen Maitland.

As we have stated before, it is indeed fair to be somewhat critical of broad market assertions about prices, as the unique circumstances of downtown / city center living, is not often portrayed accurately – even by Boston Globe reporters and others who seem to continue to concentrate on state-level information that does not represent the true story of the Boston condo market.

The Massachusetts Association of Realtors (MAR) recently release the 2007 2nd Quarter housing numbers for the state. It is interesting to see that condo sales in the Greater Boston area are increasing / appreciating on all levels (number sold, average price, median price).

Per the MAR Report, here is a look at 2nd Quarter 2006 numbers versus 2007 (2006 / 2007)

• Average Sales Price: $405,619 / $443,654
• Median Sales Price: $345,000 / $359,900
• Number of Condos Sold: 2,981 / 3,247

Stock market highs and lows, mortgage industry issues, and everything else that is on people’s minds lately don’t seem to impact a steady (and respectable) 4% increase in median selling price, and a 9% increase in average sales price in Boston.

Median prices did fall on Cape Cod, and in the Northeast, Southeast, South Shore, and the West, but Statewide, median selling prices were up 2.7%. Many reports that have come out lately are discussing Massachusetts housing statistics, rather than the city of Boston itself, note the difference when looking at statistics.

There has been an upswing in readers searching for average price of condos in Boston, and we thought we would answer the question based on information in the Boston MLS. Here is the average sales price for Boston* condos that sold during the past three calendar years, including the five months that we have seen thus far in 2007.

• 2004: Average Price = $579,637
• 2005: Average Price = $640,171
• 2006: Average Price = $640,240
• 2007: Average Price = $729,665

How accurate is this information? You need to take it with a grain of salt, or perhaps a few grains. This information represents the average price for all the condos that sold across Boston (note the selected neighborhoods below, focusing on the core of Boston only). Keep in mind, the average is heavily influenced by the mix of homes that sold during a particular year (i.e. 2007 is on track for more ultra-expensive homes to be sold than in 2006).

Whereas the average Boston condo price may not provide a completely accurate picture of market pricing, assessed values are oftentimes inaccurate as well, or perhaps sometimes not a fair representation of price for various reasons. Use the information as a guide, noting the items that can have a significant impact on the number.
*Back Bay, Beacon Hill, Chinatown, Financial District, Leather District, Midtown, North End, Seaport District, South End, The Fenway, Theatre District, Waterfront, West End

The below stats are in for the last week of sold South End Condos, pulled from the Boston MLS – compared to the previous week’s statistics (in parentheses). The number of South End Condos that sold: 18 (14)

Lowest Price: $310,000 ($279,750)
Median Price: $615,000 ($539,000)
Highest Price: $1,550,000 ($1,095,000)
Average Price: $692,333 ($593,241)

Average Days on Market (DOM): 87 (70)
Sales Price / Listing Price Ratio: 99% (99%)

Start Date: 5/27/2007
End Date: 6/2/2007

Over the past two weeks, there have been 7 condos that have sold above the asking price, while Days of Market is continuing to trend down – a definite sign that the market is getting more competitive for fairly priced properties.

We’re approaching the half-way mark for 2007, and the downtown Boston* market has seen the sale of 1,623 condos, for a total market volume of $1,068,090,056 (yep, that’s a billion).

Here are the other pertinent statistics thus far in 2007:

Lowest Price: $135,000
Highest Price: $8,250,000
Median Price: $495,000
Average Price: $658,096
Highest Price: $8,250,000

Average Days on Market: 110
Sales / Listing Price Ration: 96%

*Back Bay, Beacon Hill, Chinatown, Financial District, Leather District, Midtown, North End, Seaport District, South End, The Fenway, Theatre District, Waterfront, West End

The stats are in for the last week of sold South End Condos, pulled from the Boston MLS – compared to the previous week’s statistics (in parentheses). The number of South End Condos that sold: 18 (6)

Lowest Price: $272,500 ($295,750)
Median Price: $487,500 ($338,000)
Highest Price: $899,000 ($550,500)
Average Price: $388,208 ($541,611)

Average Days on Market (DOM): 114 (73)
Sales Price / Listing Price Ratio: 98% (98%)

Start Date: 4/29/2007
End Date: 5/5/2007

Of significant note is the obvious jump in total number of properties sold, a three-fold increase from the previous week – perhaps the true start to the hot selling summer market?

We have gathered the below property information for South End Condos that sold last week, and we will compare that to the previous week’s statistics (in parentheses). South End Condos that Sold: 6 (11)

Lowest Price: $286,150 ($329,000)
Median Price: $495,000 ($495,000)
Highest Price: $659,000 ($969,000)
Average Price: $478,108 ($510,909)

Average Days on Market (DOM): 100 (91)
Sales Price / Listing Price Ratio: 100% (97%)

Start Date: 4/1/2007
End Date: 4/7/2007

We saw a lower number of South End condos actually sell this past week, but DOM is still trending down from 2006 highs, and the market is tight for those properties that are priced right, as demonstrated by the sales to listing price ratio.

It’s time for us to take a look at the weekly sales statistics for South End Condos. We’ve gathered the below property information for those condos that sold last week, and we’ll compare that to the previous week’s statistics (in parentheses).

South End Condos that Sold: 11 (10)

Lowest Price: $329,000 ($245,000)
Median Price: $495,000 ($470,000)
Highest Price: $969,000 ($1,180,000)
Average Price: $510,909 ($579,700)

Average Days on Market (DOM): 91 (126)
Sales Price / Listing Price Ratio: 97% (97%)

Start Date: 03/25/2007
End Date: 03/31/2007

Given that we just passed the first quarter end of 2007, we’ll be putting together some more posts on market statistics throughout the week.

It appears the market for South End Condos made a 30% jump week-on-week, as the South End saw a total of 10 properties go into sold status this past week, versus 7 from the week before. Here are the details for this past week:

Lowest Price: $245,000
Median Price: $470,000
Highest Price: $1,180,000
Average Price: $579,700

Average Days on Market (DOM): 126
Sales Price / Listing Price Ratio: 97%

Start Date: 03/18/2007
End Date: 03/24/2007

The slight trend down in Average Days on Market could mean that we are entering the Spring / Summer housing press…or perhaps, it is simply a function of sellers giving concessions on their sales to listing price, which trended slightly down to 97%. We’ll see what happens in the upcoming weeks.