2020 Real Estate Observations (Boston, Quincy, Newton: for sale, 2014, rent) - Massachusetts (MA) - City-Data Forum

wolfgang239 · 02-12-2020, 06:54 PM

It is still fairly early in the season to see any trends, but I figured it may be of interest to post any observations you begin to notice about 2020 as things progress. With rates being so low I imagine many folks are getting ready to make the jump or trade up/out.

I'm planning a move to the Sudbury/Acton/Concord area in the coming months and will be putting my place on the market. I foresee a fairly competitive environment ahead of us but who knows.

yesmaybe · 02-12-2020, 07:56 PM

IMO, this is a risky time to be buying. Could be buying at the very top if you buy this year. Depending on where you are, I wouldn't worry too much about a downside risk, short term anyway. But I would worry about being able to pay the mortgage if you lost your job.

MikePRU · 02-12-2020, 08:55 PM

So far hard to get a read exactly on what the market will be like this year. Like any year it's going to be dependent upon the location. I just put a condo under contract in Brookline that I had listed and it went for significantly more than the last sale in the building about a year ago. A lot of the other listings I'm taking my buyers to in places like Needham, Newton, Brookline, and Natick are selling quite fast still. So far it doesn't seem like the market has cooled off at all in these areas and the mortgage lenders I keep in touch with have all told me they are predicting rates will drop to some of the lowest points ever this year. I may have to refinance.

sarahmccoy · 02-13-2020, 05:23 AM

In my market (greater Boston, Merrimack valley) the inventory is super low. Hopefully everyone is waiting until the spring to list.

jayrandom · 02-13-2020, 07:45 AM

Last year I thought we had sort of reached a peak. I think I might have been wrong. Inventory is really low around me. The lower end of the market (<$750k or so) seems to turnover extremely fast. Prices seem to have gone even further up. I see houses listed for sale, look at the price and think "good luck" only to see the house posted as 'under contract' a few weeks later.

There's been a couple of big new builds in my near me that are listed at ~50-100% of the rest of the neighborhood. I don't think those have sold yet. I suspect the price will come down once optimism about a busy spring gives way to the reality that you can only price a home so far above the rest of the neighborhood.

There are also new condos for sale in town (which is unusual, Westwood is basically all SFH) listing for more than we sold our SFH for in 2014. I'm curious to see what happens with those.

GeePee · 02-13-2020, 08:03 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jayrandom

There are also new condos for sale in town (which is unusual, Westwood is basically all SFH) listing for more than we sold our SFH for in 2014. I'm curious to see what happens with those.

Are you talking about the University Ave ones?

gf2020 · 02-13-2020, 08:33 AM

My son is a realtor, primarily focusing on the north of Boston region, all his transactions in the past 6 months continue to be over asking price. Inventory is in very short supply.

jayrandom · 02-13-2020, 08:41 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by GeePee

Are you talking about the University Ave ones?

Yeah, those are the ones. I see a 2 bed, 2 bath 1500 sq. ft. unit listed for $740k. I like Westwood (a lot), but that seems crazy.

BostonBornMassMade · 02-13-2020, 09:29 AM

I see a lot of 2 -4 bedrooms in Mattapan going for 2500-3500 per month? Who is renting those at that rate? Students/professionals?

3300 for 2BR https://www.trulia.com/p/ma/mattapan...26--2436048863

3k for 4 BR https://www.trulia.com/p/ma/mattapan...26--2180149032

2750 for 3BR https://www.trulia.com/p/ma/boston/1...24--2172021374

2800 for 3BR https://www.trulia.com/p/ma/mattapan...26--2178721619

3125 for 4BR https://www.trulia.com/p/ma/mattapan...26--2316374020

3400 for 5BR https://www.trulia.com/p/ma/boston/7...26--2284346146

3200 for 3BR https://www.trulia.com/p/ma/boston/1...24--2001486135

Aren't these the "large units being freed up for families" What family of 5 pays 3125 in rent in an area with no public high school and poor schools in general? I'm confused.

Are groups of people people renting units way off the rapid transit and dining/entertainment and taking the fairmount line to the financial district? When there are similarly priced units has are more centrally located/desirable/safer?

This is deeply troubling. Braintree is far more affordable than Mattapan right now.

1BR for 1350 https://www.trulia.com/p/ma/braintre...84--2001822423

2BR for 1575 https://www.trulia.com/p/ma/braintre...84--2172650122

2BR for 1575 https://www.trulia.com/p/ma/braintre...84--1001491579

2BR for 1650 https://www.trulia.com/p/ma/braintre...84--1084652137

There's 20 2BR going for under 2k in Braintree which has much better commercial real estate, better schools,safer and cleaner streets, better highway access and just as good if not better MBTA service...

Someone, some real estate guru-MikePru- please make it make sense. If I moved back to Boston I would even blink at Mattapan. Even Hyde Park Dorchester and Roxbury seem to be a bit more affordable-but those too are way less affordable than Quincy!

MikePRU · 02-13-2020, 09:45 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jayrandom

Last year I thought we had sort of reached a peak. I think I might have been wrong. Inventory is really low around me. The lower end of the market (<$750k or so) seems to turnover extremely fast. Prices seem to have gone even further up. I see houses listed for sale, look at the price and think "good luck" only to see the house posted as 'under contract' a few weeks later.

I keep wondering when we'll get to the peak as well. I network with a lot of agents around the country and I'm definitely starting to hear more and more "my market is soft." Eventually, that will make it's way here. Every trend seems to hit New England last whether that's economic, design, fashion, whatever. I've also heard from a lot of lenders recently that this year will see historic lows in mortgage rates. So my thought is this year is likely to be the peak but we'll probably see quite a crescendo this year due to low rates and low inventory. Next year might be a different story.

Quote:

Originally Posted by jayrandom

Yeah, those are the ones. I see a 2 bed, 2 bath 1500 sq. ft. unit listed for $740k. I like Westwood (a lot), but that seems crazy.

You think that's crazy . . . I had a client who was waiting for the release of the new units at the Copperworks in Canton. For a sub 1700 sq ft two bedroom unit they wanted $800K IIRC. My client was really unhappy that she waited all that time to hear that. They were asking in the 5's or 6's for the units that were a couple hundred square feet smaller.

Quote:

Originally Posted by BostonBornMassMade

I see a lot of 2 -4 bedrooms in Mattapan going for 2500-3500 per month? Who is renting those at that rate? Students/professionals?

Someone, some real estate guru-MikePru- please make it make sense. If I moved back to Boston I would even blink at Mattapan. Even Hyde Park Dorchester and Roxbury seem to be a bit more affordable-but those too are way less affordable than Quincy!

I see you've put a lot of listings in your post so that begs the question . . . are these units actually renting at these prices? You can ask whatever you want for rent or for sale but until someone actually agrees to give it to you the asking price is pretty meaningless. Personally, I don't really know anything about Mattapan. So, I couldn't tell you if these are renting or if that's a fair price or why anyone would want to rent one of these units. Sorry.