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Our Blog - the Real Estate Buzz

Monday, May 15, 2006

BOSTON = DEAD

The fat lady has sung -- Boston is now considered one of the worst real estate markets in the country. Ellen Kratz of Fortune magazine has called Boston one of the seven Dead Zones rating it alongside Las Vegas, Miami, Washington D.C., Phoenix, Sacramento, and San Diego. So you may want to think twice before you decide to sell in any of these cities.

Just how overvalued are homes in Boston? Well, according to Fortune, the average home price is $377.9, although, fair value is around $285.5 which means homes are overpriced by roughly 30%.

Yeah, that's bad. But not as bad as Miami (55% overpriced) or, even worse, San Diego (67% overpriced). Consequently homes sales are dropping, and prices are softening.

With the current shape of the Boston market fueled more and more by speculation (interest rates, middleEast, etc etc), the upside is becoming more evident for buyers. Although, it's difficult to argue Boston has now become a buyer's market, there are definitely a lot of 'deals' popping up, especially for those looking to buy single-family homes.

Elsewhere in the country... New Mexico, Louisiana, Montana and Mississippi, are heating up with sales up more than 15% in each of those states. Lookout for more action in these states, in the upcoming months.

posted by B. Samii @ 4:55 PM 0 comments

Friday, May 12, 2006

What's up with the market (NH)?

Quarter 1 of 2006 proved that the real estate market has slowed from turbo speed to normal. Although the number of homes sold has dropped by almost 10% from Q1 of 2005, home values have remained more or less the same on average. The following is a breakdown of NH real estate activity across the state.

New Hampshire Single-Family Sales (Q1)
Units Sold - 2,512
Avg. Price - $300,500
Days on market - 145
% Price Change '05-'06 - +2.60%

What's next? It's somewhat difficult to say at this point. Although it is evident interest rates and oil prices will continue to increase, the economy remains balanced with steady increases in job growth, strong consumer confidence, and stable income levels. Consequently, the New Hampshire market has cooled down a bit although it remains healthy.


posted by B. Samii @ 12:51 AM 0 comments