Currently on the reading table.

I remember reading Robert D. Putnam’s book Bowling Alone and was facilitated by how he captured the disintegrating cultural network that made America great in the past decade. I am very excited to read his latest work, The Upswing.

Today’s read.

Quoting from the text: “Public debates are characterized not by deliberation on differing ideas, but by demonization of the other side.” That feels so true today, and it’s no way to live as one country.

Downtown Boston Condominium market condition through Q3 2011

Entering the fourth quarter 2011 is shaping up as the second best year for real estate in Downtown Boston in the past decade, trailing only the record year 2008*.  YTD transactions, sales volume, average and median selling prices are all ahead of 2010, which was a very solid year on its own.  It would be reasonable to expect new construction to pull values up as they did in 2008 but 2011 is different.

Upward pressure on pricing is evident in the market and is coming from demand for re-sale homes.  This is confirmed in the data when we compared YTD 2011 to YTD 2008.  YTD 2008 new construction sales accounted for 18.5% of the total sales volume in Downtown Boston, those sales were concentrated in Battery Wharf, The Mandarin Oriental, and The InterContinental.  YTD 2011 just 7.5% of the sales volume is in new construction buildings; The W, Battery Wharf, The Clarendon, and 45 Province, yet average and median selling prices continue to experience upward pressure.  The fact that Downtown Boston has held value through the financial crisis, great recession is a substantiation of the contrarian nature of the market relative to the National real estate environment.

*2008 Record Data Points:

1. Highest Average Selling Price
2. Highest Median Selling Price
3. Most Sales over $1,000 per square foot
4. Most Sales over $1,000,000
5. Most Sales over $2,000,000
6. Most Sales over $3,000,000
7. $1,000,000 Sales as a percentage of sales volume