Posted by Michael DiMella on Tue, Jan 06, 2009 @ 01:50 PM
Bulfinch Triangle, the small triangle shaped sliver of Boston roughly located between Merrimac Street, Canal Street, and Causeway Street across from the TD BankNorth Garden (map), is finally about to start its new life as a "real" neighborhood. Although more recently known only as "where the Garden is" and for its, shall I say, robust bar scene (not that I'm complaining!), the expected completion in July 2009 of Archstone Avenir, a mixed use development on Canal Street with 241 luxury apartments for rent and 27,000 sq. ft. of retail and restaurant space, should help enhance the neighborhood image. Bulfinch Triangle is an historic part of Boston, being one of the first landfill areas in the City, but it had languished for years in the shadow of the elevated Expressway. After the Expressway was torn down as part of the Big Dig highway project, progress in revitalizing the neighborhood has been slow...until recently.
Banker and Tradesman is reporting that the Avenir project (pictured above) is on schedule to open next summer as construction is nearly 70% complete now. This project is the first to come online since the completion of the Big Dig and is a good first step to revitalizing the Bulfinch Triangle neighborhood. While originally slated to be a condo project, the original developers (Trinity) sensed weakness in the condo market and subsequently sold the project to Archstone, an apartment developer. Presumably to maintain a condo sell off exit strategy down the road plus save development costs, Archstone kept most of the plans the same as what Trinity was planning originally, in terms of design, floorplans, and finishes:
Szary [Damien Szary, assistant vice president development for Archstone] describes the units as larger than typical size for Boston
apartments, averaging more than 1,000 square feet. Rents will range
from $2,000-$6,000 per month, depending on size and location of the
unit within the building. Rents will fluctuate depending on the market,
he added.
“We maintained the original plans from when we bought the
building from Trinity,” Szary said. “We kept the exterior look and
interior finishes, which are going to be a huge selling point … The
brick and metal-panel building was designed to work contextually with
the neighborhood.”
I'm glad the project found a suitable developer willing to take on the project and kick the area revitalization into gear. Any time you can replace an eyesore of an elevated highway and replace it with new residential and retail space is a good day in my book. Especially in a neighborhood like Bulfinch Triangle, where there is prime opportunity to create a great live/work neighborhood, given its location between The North End, Beacon Hill, and Government Center and proximity to North Station and Rt. 93. Bring a few residential units in, bring in a grocery store, bring in a few new restaurants (not that there's anything wrong with Half-Time Pizza or The Fours, of course, but some new blood will help!), and next thing you know you have a thriving place to live.
Hopefully the other approved projects for the neighborhood stay on track as well:
And Avenir is just the beginning for this new, old neighborhood. A 360,000-square-foot, mixed-use development by Simpson Housing has
been approved for 283 apartment units and 15,000 square feet of retail
and restaurant space. Raymond Properties Co. has been approved for
Greenway Center, a 488,000-square-foot development featuring 295,000
square feet of commercial office, a Stop & Shop supermarket and
other first-floor retail.
“I think all these projects will be a big part of the
revitalization efforts of the Bulfinch Triangle,” O’Brian [Bob O’Brian, executive director of community group Downtown North Association] said. “We
want this neighborhood to be somewhere you can live, work and stay.”
I agree.
On a side note, we have a great condo unit for sale at the Strada Building (234 Causeway Street) if you are interested in investing in the Bulfinch Triangle area now for only $460 per square foot including garage parking! Details can be found here.
Posted by Michael DiMella on Fri, Jan 02, 2009 @ 10:12 AM
If, by "luxury", you mean any condo above $600K in price.....
An article in the Boston Herald shines some light on the sales of Boston "luxury" condos. Not sure if above $600K would be my definition of luxury - I've seen a few real dumps for much more than that - but since above $600K encompasses a large segment of the Boston condo market, the data is very useful to see the stark differences between downtown Boston and the rest of the state (and country).
From the article:
Sales of condos priced at $600,000 or more rose to 849 from January
through November, up from 806 for the same period in 2007, a 5.3
percent increase, according to The Warren Group, publisher of Banker
& Tradesman.
Meanwhile, the median price for high-end properties increased by 3.7 percent to $959,000 this year, up from $925,000 in 2007.
While the constant drumbeat of bad real estate news has sent some
agents seeking other careers, Boston’s downtown neighborhoods continue
to sell. The trend appears to fit the law of supply and demand. One
year ago, the MLS Property Information Network listed 471 condos priced
above $600,000. Today the total is 403.
By contrast, condo sales in the Bay State through November in all price
ranges sank by 23.1 percent to 18,862 from 24,514, while the median
condo price retreated 12 percent to $240,000 in November.
On a personal level, at Charlesgate Realty Group, we're bucking the statewide trend as well. Through our combination of hard work, highly skilled team members, and excellent
service, plus a market that's just "not that bad" in our market area, we've been
able to have our best year ever in 2008 in terms of dollar volume and number of transactions completed. No complaints here - if that's a "toot" you hear in the background, it's just my own horn.
Happy New Year!
Posted by Michael DiMella on Thu, Jan 01, 2009 @ 11:32 AM
30 year fixed mortgage rates are now at an average of 5.10% nationally according to the latest survey from Freddie Mac. That's the lowest level in the 37 years of their survey.
From the Boston Globe:
"Interest rates for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages fell for the ninth
straight week and represented a third consecutive all-time record low
since Freddie Mac's survey began in April 1971," Frank Nothaft, Freddie
Mac vice president and chief economist, said in a statement.
Mortgage
rates have dropped dramatically since the Federal Reserve unveiled a
plan last month to buy up to $500 billion of mortgage securities backed
by government-sponsored enterprises Fannie Mae
<FNM.P>, Freddie Mac<FRE.P> and Ginnie Mae. The program
also entails buying up to $100 billion of debt issued by Fannie Mae,
Freddie Mac and the Federal Home Loan Banks.
Mortgage rates appear destined to head even lower.
Interest rates are now a full percent lower than they were at the start of 2008. Prices are lower, mortgage rates are lower.....will that nudge more buyers to jump into the market in 2009?
Posted by Michael DiMella on Thu, Jan 01, 2009 @ 07:20 AM
The Warren Group reported that the number of Massachusetts foreclosure deeds filed (meaning foreclosures finalized) dropped to 880 in November, a 11.6% reduction from October's 996. But the November 2008 number is still 37.9% above the November 2007 number.
Foreclosure petitions (meaning initiations) dropped even further - 31.8% from October to November, and a more dramatic 50.9% from November 2007 to November 2008. For the year to date (January thru November), 2008 petitions were at 20,179 versus 26,848 for 2007.
Are the bank's efforts to modify loans rather than foreclosure showing some impact? Too soon to tell for sure but the last couple month's data does indicate that. As I wrote here, October petitions were down 33% from September and now November is down substantially as well, so it could be an early sign the the pace of foreclosures is slowing and hints that we may not be seeing as much distressed inventory coming on market in 2009. And that's a good sign for the market.
Posted by Michael DiMella on Thu, Jan 01, 2009 @ 12:20 AM
Posted by Michael DiMella on Wed, Dec 31, 2008 @ 07:07 AM
Banker and Tradesman often publishes a nice list of real estate sales and prices in various Massachusetts counties. This week it was Middlesex county so below are the prices and sales numbers for single family homes by town in Middlesex County for 2008 vs. 2007 from the issue. (Note: If you aren't on this blog directly and can't see the graph below go here to view.)
With 3 exceptions (Arlington, Lexington, and Winchester) prices are down across the board (no shock there!). But what is most interesting to me is the relative activity and price changes from city to city. With a top price decline of -22.95% in Lowell all the way to an increase of 7.51% in Winchester, that is a huge variation in a relatively small geographic area. This once again shows that not all markets are behaving the same - even with one county. Or even within once city for that matter. There are vast differences between the strongest markets and the weakest ones, in terms of foreclosure activity, affordability, housing stock (single-fam vs condo vs multi-fam), school systems, location, inventory levels, area amenities, etc., etc. that all drive the differences in the markets. It doesn't matter if you are comparing counties, cities, neighborhoods, or even streets - there is always variation (both in good and bad markets). Knowing how the market dynamics affect your house to sell or to buy is key. If you're buying or selling, make sure to do one thing: educate yourself on YOUR LOCAL market before making a decision (hopefully with the help of a local professional like me, of course!).
Posted by Michael DiMella on Tue, Dec 30, 2008 @ 03:25 PM
A new report by Celent, a research firm focused on the global financial services industry, claims that lending has actually increased during the credit crisis this year: "It appears that policymakers are making a variety of mistakes regarding the current financial crisis. If that is the case, the policy tools that they are employing may very well be the wrong ones," says Octavio Marenzi, head of Celent and author of the report.
An article in Banker & Tradesman (subscription required) this week says:
The authorities may have access to data that
is not publicly available, but Marenzi said if so they should release
that data to better support their public statements. More likely, he
says, they are just extrapolating from the experiences of a few big
banks to the whole system.
Sub-prime lending is down compared to the increases overall, he
said, but that’s “a very healthy reaction ... certain banks took on
irresponsible levels of risk, lending to people they shouldn’t be
lending to.”
The decline in sub-prime does mean some struggling businesses
are having trouble obtaining credit, however, “a banking system that
declines to extend credit to money-losing businesses is not a system
that is flawed, it’s a system working as it should.”
For more info view the Celent press release.
We'll see how this all plays out into early/mid 2009, but the report does shed some interesting light on the phenomenon. I know from my own recent experiences that both mortgage loans and commercial/business loans are certainly available. There are risk based (credit score based) premiums in place so it will cost more if you have poorer credit, but the money is attainable. Our clients have been able to get mortgage loans recently at historically low interest rates (low to mid 5%) with full documentation and provable assets, of course, but as the report says, that is a natural reaction to the market. On the commercial end, I am involved in an industrial property sale right now, and my client has three local banks fighting to give him a business loan to buy the property and expand his business - also at very low rates compared to just a year ago. Simply put - loans are available at very attractive rates.
But I have also heard horror stories about larger loans, from real estate developers especially, and that is part of the problem why many real estate projects (not to mention larger business expansion plans) are stalled right now. The big loans - $100M+ type of loans, I mean - are extremely tight and nobody wants to take on that type of risk right now in an economic downturn. The federal government is really trying to shake loose some of the "bigger money" - ineffectively so far, but we'll see what else the Federal Reserve can do and what the new administration has in mind with the other half of the $700B "economic recovery" money in 2009.
Posted by Michael DiMella on Mon, Dec 29, 2008 @ 09:23 AM