Median prices slightly varied in December
The neighborhoods covered by Boston Homes saw slight variations in the number of sales and in median prices In December.
But analysts have to look beyond those numbers to assess what is happening in the housing market. Median prices dropped dramatically in areas where many sales are the result of foreclosures and are counted in the totals.
In addition, condos sold below market prices to meet affordable housing requirements in new developments within the city influenced the data as well.
Boston Homes’ statistics come from the Listing Information Network, which tracks real estate activity in Boston, with a special and local emphasis on the core city, while the Massachusetts Association of Realtors and the Warren Group compile data from broader geographic areas.
That’s a long introduction to report that median sale prices were higher in five neighborhoods in a year-to-year comparison and higher in four neighborhoods in a month-to-month comparison. The number of sales differed minimally – 359 sales in December, 365 a year ago and 371 sales in November.
The median sale is the midway point among the transactions; half were more expensive and half less costly.
The Boston Homes neighborhoods are Back Bay and Midtown; Beacon Hill and the West End; Charlestown and the Navy Yard; Downtown (which includes the Leather District, Fort Point and the Seaport District); the Fenway; Jamaica Plain; the South End and Bay Village; the Waterfront and the North End; South Boston; Dorchester and East Boston.
The Back Bay/Midtown neighborhood had the highest median sale price in December of $750,000, which purchased an 858-square-foot floor-through penthouse at 304 Beacon St. In December 2007, the median sale price was $610,000 for a 784-square-foot condo at 416 Marlborough St. November’s median sale price was $665,000 for a 920-square-foot condo at One Charles.
The next highest median sale price was in the Downtown/Seaport area, recorded at the Macallen Building at 141 Dorchester Ave. where a 1,191-square-foot condo sold for $640,000. A year earlier, it was a loft with 1,005 square feet of living space at Fort Point Place, 21 Wormwood St., that was the median sale, priced at $460,000. November’s median sale price was $500,000 for a condo at 34 Harrison Ave.
In descending order, the Waterfront/North End/Financial District had the next highest median selling price. A 900-square-foot condo at 64-66 Salem St. sold for $545,000, compared to a year earlier when the median sale of $380,000 was at 500 Atlantic Ave. at the Residences at the Intercontinental. In November, the median selling price was $612,500, which bought a 1,230-square-foot condo at Harbor Towers I at 85 India Row.
It was a 1,023-square-foot condo at the Penmark at 21 Fr. Francis Gilday St. that was the median sale in the South End in December. It sold for $520,000. A year earlier, the median selling price was $509,000, which acquired a 949-square-foot condo at 15 Lawrence St. In November, the median selling price was $640,000 for a garden-level condo at 236 West Canton St. with 1,050 square feet of living space.
The Beacon Hill/West End neighborhood had the next highest median selling price of $442,000, which acquired a 1,285-square-foot condo at 9 Hawthorne Pl. A 565-square-foot studio at 145 Pinckney St. that sold for $350,000 was the median sale a year earlier. A month earlier, it was another West End condo that was the median sale. It was a 1,205-square-foot condo at 6 Whittier Pl.
An 836-square-foot condo at 19 Sackville St. in Charlestown that sold for $380,000 was the median sale in December while a year earlier it was a 995-square-foot condo at 20 Soley St. that sold for $444,000 that was the median transaction. In November, a 963-square-foot condo at 21 Harvard St. was the median sale at $392,000.
The South Boston median selling price exceeded those in Jamaica Plain in December. It was a 904-square-foot condo at 200 West Sixth St. that sold for $369,000 that was the median. That compares to the $425,000 price of a 1,366-square-foot condo at 67 Gates St. that was the median sale a year earlier. The November median sale price was $385,000 for a 1,377-square-foot condo at 50 Marine Road.
A 739-square-foot loft at the former American Brewery at 251 Heath St. with a courtyard was the median sale in December in Jamaica Plain. It sold for $315,000. In December 2007 the median selling price was $397,000, which purchased a 1,048-square-foot condo at 54 Carolina Ave. Last November, the median sale was a single-family house at 8 Jamaica Pl. which sold for $380,000.
A new 1,050-square-foot condo at Audubon Park at 16 Miner St. was the median sale in the Fenway neighborhood in December. It sold for $289,000. A year earlier, the median sale was for a 480-square-foot studio at 11 Park Dr. that sold for $235,000. In November, the $375,000 condo at 65 Hemenway St. with 638 square feet of living space was the median sale.
In Dorchester, the city’s largest neighborhood and where more than two dozen sales were recorded for less than $100,000 in both December and November, the median selling price in the final month of the year was $200,000 for a new three-bedroom condo at 106 Robey St. November’s median selling price was $209,000 for a 750-square-foot condo at 218 East Cottage St. In December 2007 the median selling price was $284,000 for a 1228-square-foot condo at 368 Park St.
East Boston’s median sale in December was $190,000 for a single-family home at 291 Lexington St. Most of the sales that month were for two- and three-family homes, rather than condominiums. A year earlier, it was a 951-square-foot condo at 281 Webster St. that had the median selling price of $302,000. In November, it was another single-family home that was the median sale. The three-bedroom home at 143 Saratoga St. sold for $215,000.
