Boston condo prices drop almost 10% during past year, W. Roxbury rocks!

The median price of condominiums sold in the city of Boston neighborhoods dropped 9.95% between November 2008 and November 2009, according to statistics released by The Warren Group, publisher of Banker & Tradesman.

For the year ending November, 30, 2009, there were a total of 4,521 condo sales in Boston,down 12.01% from the year before. Median sales price dropped 9.95% from $372,000 to $335,000. Median price increased November to November, by 1.88%.

The downtown Boston neighborhoods were not immune from the drop in prices, according to The Warren Group.

Sales volume was off over 24%; there were 1,407 condo sales in the twelve months ending November 30, 2009 vs. 1,860 a year earlier. Year to date, median sales price dropped 13.54% from $545,000 to $507,000. There was a jump in sales in November, 127 condos sold this year vs. 85, last year, and the median price during the month of November jumped from $530,100 to $601,900, or 13.54%.

(“Boston” means the Waterfront, North End, Chinatown, South End, Midtown, Beacon Hill, Back Bay, and Fenway neighborhoods.)

In fact, all but one Boston neighborhoods saw drops in median prices and sales volume. Only West Roxbury had an increase in sales volume and median price. This year, 103 units sold while last year only 87 sold, and median price for the year increased from $255,000 to $279,900. (Roslindale and South Boston had increased sales volumes but lower prices.)

The results mirror what happened throughout the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. According to The Warren Group:

Condominium sales in Massachusetts jumped 54 percent to 1,840 from 1,195 in November 2008 … A total of 17,133 condo sales transactions have been recorded in the first 11 months of the year, down 9.1 percent from 18,854 a year earlier.

The year-to-date median condo price tumbled 8.2 percent to $252,500 from $275,000 last year.

You would certainly hope the situation would have improved since last November, given that it was just weeks after the September collapse of Lehman Brothers and a history-making presidential election had just taken place.

Things are looking up, for both buyers and sellers of real estate, in 2010!

Related posts:

1. Return of high-end buyers pushes Back Bay and downtown Boston condo prices up
2. Downtown Boston condo prices up 10% in July
3. Preliminary August 2010 condo sales data shows increases in Downtown Boston prices
4. Suffolk County single-family and condo prices, sales, rise in January, 2010
5. Boston Herald doles out useless real estate information