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Health & Fitness

South End Condos Versus Others

How does the condominium market in the South End compare to other major Greater Boston markets?

To find out, I surveyed the MLS sales between 2005 and 2012 in nine of Greater Boston’s most important condominium markets—Back Bay, Beacon Hill, Charlestown, Jamaica Plain, South End, South Boston, Brookline, Cambridge and Somerville. I wanted to find out how South End condos differ in terms of size, value, and amenities when compared to condo sales in these markets?

Here’s, some of what I found out. The South End’s 4,233 cumulative condo sales from 2005-2012 made it the third largest market of the nine. Over that time period, the South End sold more than three times the amount of condos that Beacon Hill did and had 800 more condo sales than Back Bay. From 2005 through 2012, the South End also outsold South Boston by 600 units, but those days seem to be numbered as South Boston had 42 more condo sales than the South End in 2012, 588 to 546.

As for the distribution of the size of the condos sold, the South End had solid sales in one-bedrooms (34% of sales) and two-bedrooms (52% of sales), but comparatively three-bedroom condo sales represented a much smaller percentage of South End sales than in many of the other neighborhoods surveyed. Only 10% of South End sales were three bedrooms, while three-bedroom condos made up more than 20% of Brookline and  JP condo sales.

Of course, South End condos offered parking spaces more often than Beacon Hill condos. Yet, only 37% of South End sales offered transferable outdoor parking (either rental, assigned or deeded), making it one of the tougher markets to get an outdoor parking space. In Back Bay, 48% of sales offered parking. Garage parking was even harder to find in the South End, where only about one out of six condo sales had garaged parking, the 2nd lowest ratio for garage parking among the nine markets.

While parking is scarcer in the South End than in many of the other markets, the South End is one of the best Greater Boston markets to find a condominium with a deck. In 49% of the South End MLS sales, agents remarked on the availability of either private or public decks. This ratio gave the South End a tie for second, eclipsed only by Beacon Hill, where 56% of the condominium sales touted decks.

In 2012, buyers paid on average around $627 per square foot for a condo in the South End (3rd highest of nine) and the median price for a South End condo was $590K, up $26K from 2011. In regard to the high end of the South End market, it’s interesting to note that from 2000 to 2004, the South End sold on average about seven condos a year in the million-plus price range. From 2005 through 2012, however, the South End averaged around 60 sales a year in the million-plus price range. The highest ever MLS record sale for the South End was $3.925 million, which occurred at 1280 Washington Street in 2007.

(To get the whole report, or to get a report comparing 2013’s numbers with these, email me at DavidBatesSothebys@Gmail.com or sign up on my blog at www.BatesRealEstateReport.com)

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