Real Estate Today: JP home sales prices up 18-30%

Jamaica Plain real estate agents are saying that the market continues to be strong and one agent is prophesizing that there is no bubble to be burst on the horizon.

“People are placing significant down payments or all cash,” said Colleen McCormack of McCormack & Scanlan Real Estate.

She said that a real estate bubble will not happen because people are using “real money” and that they are “too much invested to walk away.”

“That is huge,” said McCormack.

B.J. Ray of Prudential Unlimited said in an email to the Gazette that the neighborhood’s real estate market is one of the strongest in the area.

“Jamaica Plain is inarguably one of the hottest markets in Greater Boston, with single-family home values up a whopping 30 percent since 2012 and condo values up 18 percent since 2012,” he said. “The early signs of the spring 2014 market are showing absolutely no signs of slowing down in Jamaica Plain.”

Ray said it is a seller’s market with inventory being on a steady decline since 2011 and that “the less there is available, the faster it goes.”

“Already in 2014, with more than 50 properties sold and 77 more under agreement in JP, the average list prices are up 3 to 4 percent and the properties are still selling, on average, for more than asking price,” he said.

Ray said that the mortgage interest rates are low, “which still makes buying more beneficial than renting over the long term.” But, he cautioned, should rates move up, that could change the affordability.

Maureen McElroy of Jamaica Hill Realty echoed Ray’s sentiments on it being a seller’s market, saying properties are receiving multiple offers, which are often “way over asking price.”

McElroy, who the Gazette spoke with on March 21, said a multi-family home went on the market the previous Saturday and had 14 offers before being sold on Monday.

To showcase the array of options potential buyers have in the neighborhood, the Gazette asked McElroy for the most and least expensive homes sold in JP between March 3 and March 10.

The least expensive home was a three-bedroom, one-bath condominium at 12 Forest Hills St. that sold for $290,000. The most expensive home was a four-bedroom, three-and-a-half-bath unit at 97 Perkins St. that sold for $970,000.

The least expensive home sold between March 3 and March 10 was a three-bedroom, one-bath condominium at 12 Forest Hills St., Unit 3. The sale price was $290,000. (Gazette Photo by Peter Shanley)

The least expensive home sold between March 3 and March 10 was a three-bedroom, one-bath condominium at 12 Forest Hills St., Unit 3. The sale price was $290,000. (Gazette Photo by Peter Shanley)

The most expensive home sold between March 3 and March 10 was a four-bedroom, three-and-a-half-bath unit at 97 Perkins St. The sale price was $970,000. (Gazette Photo by Peter Shanley)

The most expensive home sold between March 3 and March 10 was a four-bedroom, three-and-a-half-bath unit at 97 Perkins St. The sale price was $970,000. (Gazette Photo by Peter Shanley)

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