Making the situation look far worse than it is
May 10, 2008 | Filed Under Real Estate Trends and Statistics, Real Estate News, Boston Lifestyle, Boston Condos, Boston Luxury Developments, Boston Real Estate
The relationship between the mass media and local journalism is an interesting animal. I noticed that when the major papers write about national real estate woes and economic conditions, many of our local journalists seem to think that they can just localize the headline and ignore the numbers. Real Estate is not that simple and not only can you not ignore the numbers, you need to look beyond them to see the big picture.
For example, Banker and Tradesman recently ran an article titled “High-End Condo Market Takes A Hit in First Quarter” and highlighted that 16.5 percent fewer $1m+ condos sold in Boston in the 1Q 2008 than in the 1Q 2007. Do fewer sales mean that the Boston luxury real estate market is feeling a pinch…absolutely not. The closings of new devlopments, in this case The Residences at the Intercontinental, will inevitably alter the numbers as units at new developments may “sell” pre-construction but do not actually close until a year or so later. That will make sales in one quarter spike. In fact, the entire article after the headline and first paragraph goes on to prove that the numbers are distorted and Boston luxury real estate brokers dismissed the numbers all together. The article even states that 14 of the 85 luxury sales in the 1Q of 2007 WERE at the Intercontinental! Considering that 71 luxury condos sold this quarter without any new development sales, I’d say we are doing fine. We will also see a spike in luxury sales next quarter, and no I am not clairvoyant..The Battery Wharf will begin closings. This is not rocket science people.
It is also interesting that though the article mentioned longer marketing time, it mentioned nothing about average sales price, median sales price, average price per square foot, inventory and market absorbtion rate. Call us today to get more information on these numbers and see the big picture.
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