Just as snowfall is a guarantee this winter, there is something else that can be counted on as 2016 starts: South Boston will remain a desirable neighborhood for young professionals.
South Boston, according to statistics from The Warren Group, continues to have a hot real estate market. In the past year, the number of properties sold and the median sales price of those properties have increased, continuing the trend of recent years.
The neighborhood is popular for a number of reasons, including the increasing number of bars and restaurants in the area, its proximity to the financial district and downtown Boston, and its two miles of public waterfront, as well as the fact that South Boston is less congested than other Boston neighborhoods. Interest rates remain lows and pressure on pricing is significant.
Despite the ongoing construction and new developments, the supply and demand for real estate here is still out of balance. A healthy real estate market has about three months inventory available. In South Boston, that would mean about 240 properties on the market at a time. However, there are only about 40 to 60 properties on the market at a time – equivalent to two to three weeks inventory.
The properties that are on the market, though, sold for a higher median price in 2015 than in 2014 and more properties in the neighborhood sold. The median sales price in 2015 – $599,00 – is nearly a 14 percent increase from the previous year’s median sales price for the same period. From January through November of this past year, the median price for a one-family home was $584,500 and the median price for a condominium was $557,000, increases from the median prices of $542,750 and $494,750, respectively.
In total, 940 properties were sold in South Boston from January to November, compared to 908 in that same period in 2014. In 2015, 70 of those sales were one-family residences and 661 were condominiums. The number of total sales increased by about 3.5 percent from this same period in the previous year.
The final statistics for South Boston’s median prices and number of sales in 2015 are not yet available.
Information from Rooney Real Estate and The Warren Group. Rooney Real Estate is a partner of South Boston Online. Jackie Rooney of Rooney Real Estate can be reached at 617-269-100 or jackie@rooney-re.com. For more information, visit rooney-re.com.
