Archive for February, 2009
February 24, 2009
It’s time once again for our monthly check-in of the S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Indices (HPI).
For an explanation of how the Case-Shiller data is calculated, check out their methodology pdf. Also remember that the data released on the last Tuesday of a given month is for the period two months prior (i.e. – December data is released in February).
Here are the basic Case-Shiller stats for the Boston area* as of December:
December 2008
Month to Month: Down 1.3%
Year to Year: Down 7.0%
Change from Peak: Down 16.1% in 39 months
The following chart shows the Boston HPI scaled such that the September 2005 peak is 100% on the y-axis. Data on the x-axis is scaled to display the last time (pre-peak) the Boston HPI was at or lower than it was in the latest data (May 2003).
According to the Case-Shiller index, as of December home prices in Boston have “rewound” five and a half years.
Here’s a chart of Case-Shiller HPIs for all the markets that Redfin serves, so you can compare Boston’s performance to other areas across the country:
And here’s our final chart, in which we line up the peak Case-Shiller HPI value for each of Redfin’s markets, so we can see how long each market has been declining, and how much it has dropped from the peak.
December’s price drop in Boston was less severe than other cities across the country, which we should all expect by now, since that seems to be the regular pattern here since the market peak.
*[Case-Shiller defines Boston as the entire Boston-Cambridge-Quincy, MA-NH Metropolitan Statistical Area, which includes all or part of the following counties: Essex MA, Middlesex MA, Norfolk MA, Plymouth MA, Suffolk MA, Rockingham NH, and Strafford NH.]
February 20, 2009
Let’s take our monthly look at which cities and towns have the most price reductions.
The following charts show the percent of MLS, FSBO or REO listings that were price-reduced at some point before leaving the market (either sold or removed unsold from the market) in the past 90 days. Cities/towns or neighborhoods in which the number of homes taken off the market was too small to provide believable estimates are excluded from ranking.
For those that are interested, I have uploaded the full data set in Excel format here. The downloadable Excel file also includes charts showing the top ten cities/towns/neighborhoods with the least reduced-price listings.
First up are the top ten cities with the most price-reduced listings:
Of the 183 cities/towns we ranked in the Boston area this month, 138 (75%) had price-reduced ratios of fifty percent or more. Only Sharon carried over from last month’s top ten to this month.
Getting a little more granular, let’s look at the top ten Boston area neighborhoods for price reductions:
Of the 51 neighborhoods we ranked in Boston area this month, only these top ten (20%) had a price-reduced ratio of fifty percent or more. On the neighborhood level, much of the top ten list remained the same, with the Logan Airport area, Forest Grove, and Grafton Hill all continuing to rank highly.
At the neighborhood level, there is definitely some consistency in the number of homes seeing price reductions. If finding a good deal on a home is important to you, these neighborhoods might be a good place to start, as higher ratios of reduced-price homes indicate sellers that need to sell and are willing to lower the price to do so.
February 9, 2009
I’ve been doing some research on Boston real estate and compiled a list of a few of my favorite blogs.
Top Real Estate News Blogs
- Boston Bubble doesn’t follow your typical blog format but provides an in-depth real estate market analysis from a variety of news sources and blogs—including Redfin Sweet Digs!
- The Boston Globe Real Estate Blog has “everything you need to know about Boston’s other spectator sport.”
Top Regional Blogs
- Wicked Local is a great network of local blogs serving Eastern Massachusetts communities—each has their own neighborhood-specific page. For example, check out the blogs for Watertown and Allston-Brighton.
- Everyblock Boston gets as local as possible by letting you search at a street level and aggregating home listings, restaurant reviews, building permits, police reports and anything else you’d ever want to know in your neighborhood.
- Universal Hub is “all Boston, all the time” and pulls news reports from hundreds of bloggers in the greater Boston area.
- The Garden City is a Newton, MA community news blog written by local residents and edited by Krissy of KrissyinBoston.
Top Agent Blogs
What have I missed? What blogs do you all follow to stay on top of the Boston real estate market?
February 7, 2009
Let’s have an update on where buyers are currently getting the biggest discount off the asking price. Our goal in sharing this data is to help potential buyers to know which neighborhoods are softer in terms of sale price discounts off list price, to better equip you when making an offer, and help you know where to look for potential bargains.
In the charts below, we have taken all sales data from the last two months in Redfin’s Boston coverage area and sorted it by zip code. We calculated the overall difference between the sale price and the list price. Note that this reflects the final list price, after all price drops in the listing. Any zips with fewer than ten sales are excluded from the top and bottom ten rankings, but interested readers may download the full data summary in Excel format (xls).
Here are the top ten zip codes with the largest overall discount:
Bargain hunters in Roxbury (02119) made out even better than our last update, as the zip code not only maintained its place at #1, but also saw the level of discounts grow significantly. In addition, the area-wide discount increased from 4.9% in December to 5.7% at the end of January.
Of the 548 sales we tracked in the 2-month period, just 26 homes sold for 20% or more off the asking price, while 61 homes sold for more than asking. As a whole, the trend in Boston continues to move toward larger discounts for most neighborhoods.
