What slump?
That’s what real estate brokers in Brookline and Newton are asking.
Single-family home and condominium sales through August jumped in both communities compared to a year earlier, while single-family home prices climbed nearly 3 percent in Brookline and 1.5 percent in Newton.
The residential real estate activity in Brookline and Newton contrasts with what’s happening statewide. Bay State home sales and prices dropped from January through August compared to the same months in 2006. Single-family home sales fell 4.7 percent during the first eight months of 2007, while the median price declined 4.7 percent to $316,500 from $332,000 a year ago, according to The Warren Group, parent company of Banker & Tradesman.
Brokers say the communities’ proximity to Boston, as well as the reputation of their schools and other services, have helped keep demand up. Some properties even have sold above asking price in Brookline and Newton, a rare occurrence in other Bay State communities where home prices and sales tumbled and the number of for-sale properties shot up.
“The closer you are to the city, the less susceptible you are to slowdowns,” said James Nemetz, who manages the Newton and Chestnut Hill offices of Hammond Residential GMAC.
Real estate industry leaders say there are some sought-after communities in Massachusetts that typically weather a housing slowdown better.
“There are certain communities, and this is certainly the case with Brookline and Newton, that will go down last, they will go down less and they will recover more quickly,” said David Friedberg, president-elect of the Greater Boston Association of Realtors.
A total of 157 single-family homes were sold in Brookline through August of this year, a 15.4 percent increase from a year earlier. The median selling price for single-family homes sold in the town rose to just over $1 million, a 2.8 percent gain from a year ago when the median was $977,500. Despite the year-over-year gain, the home price is still lower than the $1.09 million median price posted during the same period in 2005.
In Newton, 526 single-family homes were sold through August, up 10.3 percent from a year ago. The median price for homes sold there during those months inched up 1.5 percent to $759,450 from $748,000.
“There are a lot of people moving to the area again,” said Susan Liberman, co-owner of Karp Liberman & Kern Sotheby’s International Realty in Newton.
Liberman noted that buyers who work at hospitals and research facilities in the Longwood Medical Area, and in Boston’s colleges and universities, find both Brookline and Newton an attractive location.
“They really like to feel like they’re part of Boston. They want to feel the pulse of the city,” she said. “We also have excellent schools.”
Friedberg, who manages the Brookline office of Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage, said buyers are drawn to Newton and Brookline not only because they are located so close to Boston, but also because they are well-managed.
“Buyers view it as a quality investment,” he said.
‘Savvy’ Sellers
While the meltdown in the subprime mortgage market and the tightening of lending standards has affected some housing markets, brokers say Brookline and Newton hasn’t felt the sting as much. The communities tend to attract more affluent buyers who typically don’t have a problem with financing in Brookline and Newton, where home prices are so much higher than those in many other Bay State communities.
“The people who are purchasing in Brookline are not deeply concerned about whether or not they’re going to get the mortgage, and that might have a positive effect on sales,” said Chobee Hoy, broker-owner of Chobee Hoy Assoc. in Brookline. “In some other locations, there may be just as many people who want to purchase there but it’s harder to get a mortgage now.’
Sales also have been helped in part by homeowners who were keenly aware of what was happening in the overall housing market.
“I think sellers who want to sell in these communities are savvy and realized pricing is key. And if there are major renovations that need to be done to their home, many of them are willing to do that,” Liberman said.
Liberman’s company handled the sale of several properties this year that sold either at or above the asking price.
One of those homes, which is located on Somerset Road in West Newton Hill, was sold for $2 million in May after being listed at $1 less than that figure. The property was only on the market for 13 days before going under agreement.
Liberman’s firm also sold a nine-room Colonial on Clark Road in Brookline for the full asking price of $999,000 after only two days on the market.
But other home sellers in Newton and Brookline haven’t been as lucky and have had to slash their asking prices. A Tudor-style home on Hobart Road in Newton originally was listed at $3.5 million, but after about three months, the price was reduced to $3 million. Less than two weeks later, the home went under agreement and eventually sold for $3.1 million in June.
Liberman said pricing is critical. “If it’s not priced correctly, you completely destroy your opportunity to sell,” she said.
Her partner, Marcia Karp, agreed.
“Those people who have trusted us and listened to what we have to say about marketing and positioning their homes have been successful,” Karp said. “Those people who felt they knew better than their real estate broker have not been successful.”
Homes have been selling at a slightly faster pace in Newton than a year ago. It took an average of 99 days, or just over three months, for single-family homes to sell between January and mid-September, compared to 108 during the same period in 2006, according to MLS Property Information Network.
In Brookline, single-family homes that sold during that period took about two weeks longer to sell than a year earlier. Single-family homes took an average of 147 days to sell, or nearly five months, compared to 130 days in 2006.
Buyers currently searching for a home in both those communities have fewer homes from which to choose.
There were 182 single-family homes listed for sale in Newton as of last Tuesday, down from 337 during the same day in 2006, according to MLS PIN. In Brookline, there were 72 single-family homes on the market, down from 110 a year ago.
Buyer demand for some sections of Brookline and Newton is strong enough, Liberman noted, that she believes more inventory – particularly homes in updated condition – is needed. Those areas include Brookline’s Cottage Farm, Longwood Mall, Fisher Hill and Chestnut Hill neighborhoods, as well as Newton’s Waban, West Newton Hill and Newton Centre.
“People are willing to pay a premium for a house, in good condition, in Brookline and in Newton,” she said.
Condo sales also shot up in both communities. In Brookline, 619 condos were sold through August, up 13.8 percent from the same period in 2006.
Newton’s condo sales rose 6 percent year-over-year. In that city, 264 condos were sold from January through August of this year.
But unlike single-family home prices, condo prices in both communities slipped. Brookline’s median condo price of $437,000 is 2.7 percent lower than a year earlier, and in Newton, the median condo price fell 8.7 percent to $450,000 from $493,000.
