Cheap condos as hot items: Sellers avoiding real estate woes
By Scott Van Voorhis Boston Herald Business Reporter
Sunday, October 15, 2006 - Updated: 10:07 AM EST
T
here may be fears of a fire sale in the oversaturated market for luxury condos in downtown Boston.
But when it comes to condos priced below $400,000, brokers and developers say they are seeing something that s missing from the deluxe end of the market - sales.
While some developers ponder auctions to get rid of unsold units they once hoped to sell for $800,000 or more, brokers and builders with modestly priced units to offer say there just aren t enough such condos to go around.
One telling statistic is time on market.
Units across the Boston area priced at $400,000 and below are selling, on average, in 78 days. Over $400,000 and you are talking about 100 days, said John Ford, who owns a downtown brokerage firm.
Meanwhile, sellers in this modestly priced end of the market are not necessarily having to sell at big markdowns, with units trading at more than 97 percent of market value, said Ford, citing statistics culled from a local real estate listing service.
There are no fire sales in this market. Right now in our Beacon Hill office we are dealing with seven clients, Ford said.
Meanwhile, builders of lower-priced units are also reporting healthy sales activity.
In what may provide a road map for builders looking to move forward in a slowing residential market, the development team behind plans for Olmsted Green, a sprawling new mid-priced housing development in Mattapan, reports brisk interest.
More than 880 potential buyers have sought more information about the new development, a mix of townhouses and subsidized apartments slated for the bucolic grounds of the old Boston State Hospital, said developer Kirk Sykes.
To drum up interest, project executives have gone to local churches and community centers in Mattapan and other neighborhoods to talk up their more modestly priced units.
Olmsted Green s newly opened sales office took its first deposit last week, said Sykes, president of the Urban Strategy America Fund.
When you are pricing things at $350 a square foot, that is a very rare product in terms of its availability, Sykes said.
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