Sales and median prices in the city’s full-service luxury buildings jumped by more than 50 percent in the first quarter of this year, according to data expected to be released today by Listing Information Network, a private Boston company that tracks the downtown condo market.
Buyers closed deals for 94 units in luxury buildings in the first quarter, a 59.3 percent increase from the anemic 59 deluxe condos sold in the first quarter of 2009, according to the data. The median selling price of $874,150 was 56.1 percent higher than the same time period in 2009.
The rebound was not limited to the city’s most expensive condo properties — overall condo sales jumped 40.4 percent to 469 in the first quarter compared with the same period last year. Median sales prices also swelled to $479,000, a 14.2 percent increase from the first quarter of 2009.
“There’s confidence back in the market which was totally lost last year,’’ said John Ford, a luxury real estate broker based in Beacon Hill. He attributed much of the recent sales to an improving economy and a strong stock market. “People have recouped their losses and are more willing to invest in real estate,’’ Ford said.
While housing prices statewide started to decline in 2005, prices in the downtown condo market largely held until 2008 when the national financial crisis crippled wealthy individuals’ ability to buy properties, lenders tightened credit for larger loans, and a wave of uncertainty over what might happen next washed over homeowners and investors.
Sales in luxury buildings — which the Listing Information Network defines as those that offer concierge, valet, and other services and have more than 10 units — came to a virtual standstill over the last two years as homeowners took homes off the market rather than reduce prices, while buyers held out for bargains that rarely materialized.
Debra Taylor Blair, president of Listing Information Network, said new data shows that buyers are tired of waiting on the sidelines. Boston’s downtown — which includes more affluent areas like the Back Bay, Beacon Hill, and Charlestown — has historically maintained pricing levels better than the suburbs and other regions of the country, Blair said, mostly because it has a diverse job base that attracts well-paid health, education, and financial professionals. “The market is coming out of this long recession,’’ she said.
Sales in the early part of the year were bolstered by the recent openings of two deluxe Back Bay buildings, the Clarendon and the W Boston. Wealthy buyers bought 19 condominiums at the 103-unit Clarendon on Stuart Street in the first quarter, paying between $780,000 and $4.8 million to own part of the 33-story luxury building, according to Listing Information Network data.
Four blocks away on the same street, four units at the 28-story W Boston were sold during the first quarter, including a 518-square-foot studio for $345,000 and a $1.9 million three-bedroom unit, according to LINK. Another 19 buyers are under contract to close on W Boston condos this year, said Kevin Ahearn, president of the Boston marketing and brokerage company Otis & Ahearn, which is handling the sales.
Ahearn said the pricey deals are not limited to the W Boston. Condos priced at $1 million or more have sold throughout Boston this year, he said, a surge he attributes in part to limited inventory and the desire of professionals, retirees and affluent families to live in the city.
Improving sales will probably help persuade lenders to begin financing new residential projects in Boston’s downtown, Ahearn said, after a long period of dormancy. “We are underbuilt,’’ Ahearn said. As a result, he said, “Prices have to go up.’’ But he noted that it will likely be another year before any major projects actually start being built.
Celia Chen, a senior director at Moody’s Economy.com, said new sales of expensive properties will help the economy by generating fees for brokers, real estate agents and designers, among others.
Nationwide, Chen said, high-end real estate still lags behind the housing market overall, making the city’s early showing this year that much more impressive. “What you are seeing in Boston is slightly different’’ than the country as a whole, she said.
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i kind of don’t like to live in condominums because they don’t offer large spaces for garden..~;
i love to stay and live on 5 star condominiums which provide great amenities.-;