Geo Properties will be offering a free seminar explaining short sales, foreclosures and REO’s, and the benefits and set-backs of each for both buyers and sellers. Everyone welcome. (more…)

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Wednesday, October 7, 2009
By Paul Edward Parker
Journal Staff Writer

The median sales price of single-family houses in Rhode Island fell 6 percent in August compared with a year ago, the first time this year the decline has been only single digits.

The Rhode Island Association of Realtors calculated the August 2009 median price at $220,000 and the August 2008 price at $235,000.

The number of houses sold in August rose sharply. In 2008, 596 houses sold during the month; this year, that number climbed 29 percent to 768.

The increase was fueled partly by an inventory of “distressed” houses, those sold either through foreclosure or at a price that is less than what was due on a mortgage. But, according to Paul Leys, president of the Realtors association, the influence of distressed sales is waning. In January, 48 percent of single-family house sales were distressed, he said. That has now dropped to 29 percent.

Leys also credited the $8,000 federal tax break — which is set to expire Nov. 30 — with spurring sales as the deadline nears.

Another key indicator, the average number of days that houses remain on the market, dropped 6 percent in August, down from 93 last year to 87 this year. In the past, sustained falls in the number of days on the market have foreshadowed a rise in prices.

“By all accounts, we’re headed in the right direction,” said Leys. “Supply and demand has come back into a more normal range of balance in recent months. That’s the best indicator of market stability.”

The Realtors track the median price rather than the mean price — often called an average — because it is a better measure of what a typical house sells for in a market with a broad range of prices. The median is the price exactly in the middle of a list of prices from highest to lowest. Generally, half the houses sell for more than the median and half sell for less. The mean price can be skewed by a relatively few number of houses selling for extremely high prices.

That stability of the single-family housing market is coming slower in the multi-unit and condominium markets.

Leys reported that 77 percent of multi-unit house sales were distressed in August. Prices plummeted in August compared with last year, dropping 38 percent from $128,250 in 2008 to $80,000 in 2009. With prices still in the bargain range, sales climbed 37 percent during the same period, from 132 last year to 181 this year. The days on the market rose 2 percent, from 92 last year to 94 this year.

The situation was not as bleak in the condo market, where prices fell 20 percent, from $232,500 last year to $187,000 this year. The number of sales was off 6 percent, from 129 last year to 121 this year, and days on the market rose 13 percent, from 111 last year to 125 this year.

“Though the supply is dropping, the condo market continues to have too much inventory,” Leys said. “Statistically speaking, there’s still an 11-month supply out there.”

pparker@projo.com

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In theory, I have always been a big advocate for serving refreshments at my open houses. A touch of class, an extra incentive to lure in potential buyers. In practice, however, I have found the serving of refreshments at my open houses to be nothing but a calorie-loaded inconvenience.

Take this evening, for example. I was having an evening “event” of sorts, a Thursday night open house geared towards young professionals (my target market for the loft I am selling). I decided that refreshments were a must for such an event, so I posted invitations stating that said refreshments would be served all over Facebook, Twitter, Craigslist – you name it – leading up to my open house.

By my open house start time, signs were up, lights were on, soft music was playing, and I was standing with a welcoming smile at the front door. Too good to be true. I should have known that I had forgotten something. I am never that punctual. And I did realize, fifteen minutes too late, that I had overlooked picking up the damn refreshments.

My more typical refreshment scenario involves me, a poor turnout buyer-wise, and a plate of cookies that somebody (me) is “forced” to eat so that they do not go to waste. A scene in the recently popular movie “I love you man,” comes to mind. Note here – if you are a realtor and you haven’t seen this movie yet – rent it! Then you will know which scene I am talking about. And another note to all you potential buyers and other open house attendees out there – we realtors do not poison our refreshments! We actually intend for you to enjoy them! They are there for you, not me!

This Sunday I plan to host an open house at a high-end home in Providence’s East Side. Refreshments will be served, of course. But I think I am learning, because I have already decided that my “refreshments,” purchased well in advance, are going to consist primarily of some good bottles of wine. I figure, if I am going to be the only one enjoying them anyway…

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Tower’s sale may be a sign office market’s stirring
By Casey Ross, Globe Staff | September 30, 2009

In a sign that Boston’s moribund office market is stirring, a 14-story building on the waterfront drew heated bidding from more than a score of potential buyers before selling to the investment bank Credit Suisse for $106.2 million.

Credit Suisse beat out 21 other bidders for 470 Atlantic Ave., a 330,000-square-foot building on Independence Wharf, an executive involved in the deal said.

The sale breaks months of paralysis in an office market that has been starved of capital for large transactions, as banks and other institutional buyers hesitate to put money out while office rents are falling and property owners are losing large tenants. But the 470 Atlantic Ave. sale suggests there is demand for well-located buildings with solid tenants.

Sandwiched between the InterContinental Boston hotel and the Moakley Bridge over Fort Point Channel, the building is 90 percent leased by several large firms, including the insurance firm William Gallagher Associates and Babson Capital Management, a subsidiary of MassMutual Financial Group.

Robert Griffin, of the Cushman & Wakefield brokerage, handled the sale for the owner, a General Electric Co. subsidiary. He said the building quickly attracted interest after going on the market in June, with more than 40 potential buyers touring the property before about half submitted bids.

“The conventional wisdom right now would say there is not a lot of money out there for assets like this, but we found just the opposite,’’ said Griffin, president of the New England region for Cushman. “This is an indication there is a lot of equity out there to buy property that might be put on the market in the future.’’

Executives at Credit Suisse could not be reached for comment. Built in 1927, 470 Atlantic was renovated in 2001 and 2004, creating 28,000-square-foot floor plates and 9-foot ceilings. The wharf outside the building is known as the site of the Boston Tea Party in 1773.

The building’s sale is the first major transaction since the sale of One Winthrop Square in July. Before that, there had not been a sale of a major building in more than six months.

Boston’s office market has suffered in the economic downturn, with job losses opening chunks of space in office towers. Asking rents for premium space in office towers have dropped about 28 percent in two years, to about $50 per square foot, according to the real estate services firm Jones Lang LaSalle.

The numbers are similar, if not worse, in other major cities, where sales of office building have all but stalled, save for a few transactions due to foreclosures and other distress situations.

In Boston, a lack of construction has kept vacancy rates from increasing even more. During the third quarter, a tower at Two Financial Center became the first new office property to hit the market in five years.

Casey Ross can be reached at cross@globe.com.

© Copyright 2009 The New York Times Company

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