June Market Wrap

Here's the latest price data from MAR for SFHs (down 1.6% YOY) and Condos (up 4.4% YOY) plotted relative to recent history:
Frankly I'm surprised MAR has been so restrained about the new record high median condo price reached in June. Perhaps even they recognize that the relatively strong sales in the pricey downtown Boston condo market (see story here) are skewing the median price higher.



MAR also offered up a summary of Q2 data (see here) which I'll cover in a future post.



Once again the Warren Group reported prices that were much weaker than MAR, with SFH prices down 4.6%, and condo prices down 4.1% YOY. Here's a comparison of SFH YOY price changes over the last 16 months from the two organizations.

The reason I want to emphasize this plot is that the differences between the two reports are now spanning at least a two year period, so the trend is beginning to amplify. For instance MAR reported 2007 prices down 1.6% relative to 2006, and 2006 down 1.1% from 2005 (pretty much the market peak). That means MAR numbers indicate that the statewide SFH median price has fallen a cumulative 2.7% from summer 2005.

In contrast, the Warren Group has 2007 prices down 4.6% from 2006, and 2006 prices down 3.9% from 2005, for a cumulative drop in SFH median price of >8%. Now that is a meaningful difference, and one I don't see mentioned anywhere in the local coverage.