Swampscott housing market steady in 2014; condo sales explode
Here are the highlights of the market in Swampscott in 2014.
Single Family Homes (SFH)
– the median price eased 0.5% to $440,000, still down 15% from the 2005 peak of $517,300
– sales were up slightly to 168, but that was the best sales number since 2004
– the Assessed Value to Sales Ratio (ASR*) declined from 87.8% to 84.8%.
Condos
– the median price increased 4% to $267,500, still down 6% from the 2005 high
– sales exploded to 74, almost double the 40 of 2013 and more than the prior peak years (this century) of 70 in 2005 and 2006
– the ASR increased slightly from 80.9% to 82.7%.
Property Taxes
– While the tax rate for FY2015 has dropped from $18.70 to $17.15, the average tax bill will increase by 4% or $352. (more…)
Essex County 2015 property tax rates
FY2015 tax rates have now been announced for all 34 Essex County cities and towns. As usual, they show wide variations: for residential property, from$10.84 in Manchester to $20.56 in Amesbury; and for commercial, from $10.84 in Manchester to $33.58 in Lynn.
There have also been significant differences in the changes for tax rates for FY2015, ranging from a decrease of 14% in Wenham to an increase of 14% in Georgetown.
Recall that FY2015 tax assessments are based on values at January 1, 2014, using 2013 sales information; and that Proposition 2 1/2 limits the amount that can be raised through property taxes. In general, when assessed values increase, tax rates go down. But even when the tax rate goes down tax bills usually increase.
Here are the tax rates for the last 4 years for each city or town. The rate for FY2015 applies for the entire year to June 30, 2015, so the 3rd and 4th quarter tax bills will be adjusted for any changes occurring from the new rate.
Residential:
Source: Dept of Revenue, Assessors’ Offices
Commercial:
Source: Dept of Revenue, Assessors’ Offices
If you – or somebody you know – are considering buying or selling a home and have questions about the market and/or current home prices, feel free to contact me on 617.834.8205 or [email protected].
Andrew Oliver is a Realtor with Harborside Sotheby’s International Realty
Sotheby’s International Realty® is a registered trademark licensed to Sotheby’s International Realty Affiliates LLC. Each Office Is Independently Owned and Operated
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Marblehead Home Sales best since 2004
This week’s closed sales took the year’s total to 238, the best since 2004. Based on anticipated sales dates the full year will come in around 245.
Source:MLS, Oliver Reports
How has the housing market in Middlesex County compared with Essex?
Recently, in response to two of my articles Where have all the condo sellers gone? and Homes for sale in Essex County plummet, a reader wondered whether the numbers would be different for Middlesex County. With the latter containing towns closer to Boston, I suspect the question was whether Middlesex would show stronger results than Essex. (more…)
A positive outlook for Revere without a casino
While there are always differences of opinion as to the benefits vs costs of casino development, economic development offers a more positive and direct impact.
Revere lost to Everett in its bid to develop a casino but that does not mean there is not optimism for its future. (more…)
New offshore leases could “power half the homes in MA”
742,000 acres offshore Massachusetts will be offered for commercial wind energy development in a January 29, 2015, competitive lease sale.
According to an analysis prepared by the US Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory, if fully developed, the area being offered could support between 4 and 5 GW of commercial wind generation, enough electricity to power over 1.4 million homes.
(more…)
Pending Homes sales remain strong in Massachusetts
The Massachusetts Association of Realtors (MAR) reported this week that accepted offers in October for Single Family Homes (SFHs) increased 23.5% from October 2013, and for condos increased 14% year on year. These numbers represent the 20th consecutive month of year on year gains.
MAR also reports monthly changes in median prices – just under 2% year on year for both SFHs and condos. For many reasons I pay little attention to – and never report – monthly movements in prices, but I agree with the general thesis that prices have stabilized as they have returned to prior peak levels. (more…)
Homes for sale in Essex County plummet in recent years
This week I am looking at the number of Single Family Homes (SFHs) for sale, as a follow up to last week’s Where have all the Condo sellers gone? article. In that article I pointed out that the number of condos for sale, in both Marblehead and Essex County, was down some 70% from the levels seen in the 2006/07 period, and offered some thoughts on why that might be. (more…)
Where have all the Condo sellers gone?
I have noticed for some time that the number of condos for sale in Marblehead has been low compared with the days of my old Marblehead Reporter articles (2008-11) when my memory said there always seemed to be 50 or more for sale.
I checked the numbers for today and compared them over the last 10 years. The questions that came to mind were: was this just a Marblehead phenomenon? Was it maybe because of the time of the year? And if not, what was the reason for the decline? (more…)
Swampscott Third Quarter Housing Review
The Single Family (SFH) market
After enjoying good price gains in 2013 the median price in 2014 has been more or less flat all year. And the full year’s median price seems likely to come in as much as 15% below the peak of 2005: (more…)
Salem Third Quarter Housing Review
The Single Family Home (SFH) market
The market continued to improve in Q3 and it looks like the full year to be very close to, or even slightly exceed, the previous high of $349,000 in 2005: (more…)
Beverly Third Quarter Housing Review
The Single Family Home (SFH) market
The median price in Beverly in Q3 was flat with a year ago, consistent with the trend in Essex County overall. While prices have recovered from the effects of the great recession, the 2014 number is likely to come in some 4-5% below the peak level of $400,000 in 2004. (more…)
Third Quarter Housing Review
Third quarter numbers for sales and median prices support the argument I have been making in recent weeks that we are now in a more stable market, having recovered from the 2008/2009 slump. As always, I caution against reading too much into one quarter’s numbers, particularly in those cases where the number of sales is small. Next week I shall publish a report for the first nine months of the year, which will provide a fuller picture of the market.
A good sign for the housing market is that the economy continues to improve with unemployment dropping below 6% for the first time since 2008, although the underemployment rate is still high at 11.8% and hourly earnings increased only 2% year over year. The latter numbers suggest that the Federal Reserve will not be rushing to raise interest rates, which is good news for mortgage rates. (more…)
Housing Inventory heading into Fall: a surprise
I started to write this article intending to talk about the increase in supply we have seen in recent weeks and how the housing market was getting back into equilibrium between buyers and sellers, a situation achieved when supply reached 6 months. But a funny thing happened as I worked through the numbers. Take a look at this table: (more…)
Do Property Tax Rates matter to Buyers?
After posting my article Marblehead leads the way in Million Dollar sales in Essex County in which I speculated that different property tax rates may be one reason for the changes in sales in different towns, I checked my blog records and discovered that my posts on tax rates are among the most widely viewed. (more…)
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