Why a condo is now more expensive than a single-family home, on average
Condo prices are soaring across Greater Boston as the spring market kicks into high gear, with urban areas, from upscale neighborhoods to middle and working class enclaves, leading the way.
Hipster hot spots like Somerville, Jamaica Plain and increasingly upscale Charlestown saw some of the biggest increases, but so did Brighton, Medford and West Roxbury, price stats from the first three months of 2016 show.
Nor was it just prices that were on the move, with sales also up by double digits in many of the same neighborhoods and communities, according to The Warren Group, publisher of Banker & Tradesman.
Overall, the median condo price across Massachusetts shot up 10 percent in March, to $320,000, surpassing the media price of a single-family home ($315,000) for only the second time in the last two decades, The Warren Group notes.
“The many luxury units coming online in Greater Boston have clearly had an outsize effect on the market, while the median price of a single-family home has dipped slightly in recent months,” noted Timothy M. Warren Jr., CEO of The Warren Group, in a press statement. “It’s certainly good news for the condo developers currently in permitting or under construction.”
The impact of deluxe new towers and projects coming on line helped push downtown Boston condo prices up 6 percent, to $782,000, while sales jumped 12 percent.
Somerville, Jamaica Plain and Charlestown, which have seen their share of new luxury condo construction, as well as condo conversions, also saw big jumps as well.
Somerville ($600,000) rose 34 percent, JP ($460,000) jumped 11 percent, while Charlestown ($670,000) saw prices surge nearly 20 percent. Newton ($560,000) shot up 21 percent.
Cambridge ($627,000) and Brookline ($699,500) saw strong but slightly smaller increases of 9 and 7 percent respectively.
But other, less pricey neighborhoods and communities also saw big gains in condo prices as well.
With more modestly priced single-family “starter homes” hard to come by in the Boston area, condos are increasingly filling that gap for many first-time buyers, industry experts say.
Waltham ($399,950) rose 18 percent, Brighton ($327,100) was not far behind at 16 percent, while Medford ($430,000) topped both with a 27 percent jump.
Also doing well were Quincy ($270,000), where condo prices rose 14 percent, Framingham ($216,250/63 percent) and Haverhill ($183,000/15 percent).
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