North Shore Housing Inventory at the beginning of April
The first quarter on the North Shore is the time of the lowest sales and also the lowest number of houses for sale. Thus, the statistics as of April 1, give only a modest indication of what the spring market will be like.
As to that, I will comment in my next post.
Here are the numbers for SFHs for 17 North Shore Cities and Towns: (more…)
Moving up the food chain
The spring market continues to build momentum, as activity is moving up the price brackets.
Let’s look at the sequence of events:
– A February snowy Sunday with the temperature below freezing. 30 people showed up at an Open House for a property listed in the low $400s and multiple offers were received.
– In March another house priced in the low $400s never reached the open market as four offers were received above the asking price.
– Last week a house priced at $600,000 sold in one day.
– Four houses listed in March between $725,000 and $875,000 had offers accepted in 5-20 days.
– This week one house listed in the low $900s and one in the $1,500s had offers accepted in less than a week.
And in the last ten days two condos listed at $389,000 and $425,000 had offers accepted in 1 and 2 days.
Here’s a list of what is available by price. The last column shows the median Days on Market (how long it has been listed for sale) for those properties still available. (more…)
Listed for $550,000; sold for $630,000
The above example appeared in a Wednesday Boston Globe article Boston-area house hunters face bidding battles.
– The sale referred to above took place in Cambridge.
– In Jamaica Plain a buyer bid 12% above a condo’s asking price.
– Redfin.com reported that 89% of Cambridge deals this year involved multiple bids.
– A friend who owns a multi family in Boston’s South End has received three unsolicited offers in the last month, and I have reported earlier about the chronic shortage of condos for sale in Boston.
The market on the North Shore tends to lag behind Boston, but there are already signs that buyers here are feeling the pressure of increased competition for the small number of properties available for sale. I have reported before on multiple bid situations over the asking price in the last few weeks. (more…)
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How much will home prices increase in the next decade?
According to a Bloomberg report, JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM) more than doubled its forecast for U.S. home price gains in 2013 to 7 percent this week, and predicts a more than 14 percent increase through 2015. Bank of America Corp. (BAC) said last week property values will jump 8 percent this year, up from a prior estimate of 4.7 percent in a report titled “Someone say house party?”
I have previously written that I expect any surprise in 2013 to be on the upside. I also reported a recent open house in Marblehead on a snowy and blustery day when 30 people showed up and multiple offers were received. Then last week before a new property came on the open market it received several offers above the asking price.
(more…)
What every oceanfront property buyer should do NOW
Some oceanfront houses get battered by storms time and time again, while others remain unscathed.
What is the difference?
Largely, it is a question of the direction the house faces and the protection – or lack of it – from the elements, mainly water and wind.
If you are looking for an oceanfront property, what you should do this weekend is get in your car and drive around the areas in which you are interested. And take a compass with you (I find the compass on my iPhone unreliable).
(more…)
Is this why the housing market is heating up?
The stock market hit an all-time high this week, unemployment dropped to 7.7%, and the Federal Reserve reported that Americans have regained the $16 trillion in wealth lost during the Great Recession.
In contrast, home prices nationally remain, depending on the index, up to 30% below peak levels, while mortgage rates are at all-time lows.
Plus, as I reported last week, home ownership between 2004 and 0212 declined by 3.6% or some 4 million households.
Add to that an historically low level of houses for sale, and what do you get?
In classical economic theory, the relation between supply and demand determines the price of a commodity. As demand for an item increases, prices rise. When manufacturers respond to the price increase by producing a larger supply of that item, this increases competition and drives the price down
Demand is up and increasing
Supply is at historic lows
New housing starts remain well below “normal” levels and can’t be increased quickly
Based on the above, where do you think prices are headed in 2013?
Associated Press; March 7, 2013
WASHINGTON — It took five years, but surging stock prices and steady home-price increases have finally allowed Americans to regain the $16 trillion in wealth they lost to the Great Recession.
(more…)
The most important website for first time and Veteran homebuyers
For many first time home buyers the process can seem intimidating, but information available on the internet can help the buyer become well informed and able to be in control of the process.
This website North Shore Home Programs provides a remarkable amount of information, ranging from a step-by-step guide to home buying, to a list of programs available to help with down payments.
The greatest gift of the internet is the way it empowers the consumer through knowledge. Spending a little time on this website, and then googling “first time home buyer”, will go a long way to giving power to you, the buyer.
Knowledge helps to remove intimidation from the process of buying your first home.
“Local housing market, packed with eager buyers, is desperately seeking home sellers”
If you have been reading my articles in the last couple of months it will come as no surprise to read today’s front page article in the Boston Globe about the severe shortage of homes for sale. While this article is written about Boston it applies just as much to our North Shore communities.
The message is clear: if you have been waiting to sell, wait no longer! And if you have been thinking of buying or trading up, wait no longer! (more…)
Is it time to trade up?
Last Sunday, as you may recall, was a cold, snowy, stormy day. Harborside had a new listing and planned an open house, but the broker wondered whether anybody would venture out in the snow. Should he cancel the open house? He decided to go ahead and see if anybody would show up.
Um. Some 30 people “showed up” and the result was multiple offers for the property. (more…)
Why numbers do matter – but so does a good agent
In my new career as a Realtor I recently attended a class on using the data in the MLS (Multiple Listing Service). Two comments struck me. The first came from an agent of more than 20 years’ experience who said: “I know my market; I don’t need data to tell me what a house is worth.”
The second came when the agents present were asked what they had been taught to say in response to the question: “how’s the market?” I was almost deafened as those present (this was a continuing education class) shouted out words like “great” and “terrific”. To which the instructor wryly commented that that was how Realtors got a bad name. (more…)
Where have all the sellers gone?
Buyers are out there, but sales are being held back because of a shortage of supply. If you are thinking of selling you don’t have to wait until the traditional spring market.
Conventional wisdom is that a market is in balance when the inventory represents about 6 months of sales.Currently, for the North Shore as a whole, supply is just 3.2 months for SFHs and 3.7 months for condos. What does this mean? (more…)
Marblehead 2012 housing review and 2013 outlook
People often ask: how’s the market? Well, there rarely is one “market”. The answer can vary by price (the under $500,000 market may be active while another price range is less so) and location (quiet wooded cul-de-sac versus busy main road).
This review of 2012 SFHs will follow my usual pattern of breaking down 2012 sales by price range, as well as looking forward to 2013.
And as so often, detailed analysis of the data reveals some surprising conclusions. Let’s get started. (more…)
Marblehead condo market 2012 review: apples and oranges
Any claim that “the condo market” in Marblehead is doing this or that should be treated with caution.
As I have commented many times, there are two main condo markets in Marblehead: purpose built condos like Glover Landing, Adams House, Oliver’s Pond, Marblehead Highlands, etc; and old 2/3 family houses that were ‘condo-ed” in the boom years.
The former category has seen prices hold up well, while the latter has suffered. And the overall market is so small that very often there are large price gaps between sales, making median prices even less meaningful.
Nevertheless, by digging deep into the numbers I can explain what is actually happening in the market, and it’s not what the headline number suggests.
So let’s get to the numbers. (more…)
How many million dollar homes sold in Marblehead last year?
The answer is 26, up from 24 in 2011. The highest price MLS sale was $4.1 million. At the start of 2013 a house listed at $4.75 million went under agreement.
If the past is any guide, then 2013 should see increased demand at the top end.
Here are the numbers:
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