Boston real estate trends 2024
Boston Condos for Sale and Apartments for Rent
Boston real estate trends
The top home trends for summer 2024
With warm weather heating up much of the United States, many homeowners are craving new summer styles for their living spaces. Design website Houzz analyzed the latest search trends to determine which home styles, decor crazes and color fads are rising in popularity this summer — here are the top results.
via Sara Stewart (Sarah Strunk Photography)
Organic modern
The “organic modern” design style is among the most popular trends this summer, with searches for organic modern bedrooms up 245% in the past year and organic modern dining rooms up 146%. This simplistic style features clean lines, white or neutral-colored surfaces and light wood finishes.
Wellness features
This trend isn’t new for the summer. Houzz first noticed homeowners incorporating wellness features like cold plunges, indoor saunas and home spas into the home in the early post-pandemic era. However, searches for these features have continued to increase, with searches for cold plunges up 74%, indoor saunas up 69%, large windows up 41%, home spas up 34% and backyard saunas up 27%.
via Matti Gresham
Dark and moody
In stark contrast to organic modern styles, dark and moody design is also on the rise. Searches for moody living rooms — think dark, rich paint colors and wood stains — jumped 130% in the past year, while searches for dark ceilings increased by 60%. These bold design choices are thought to make spaces cozier and more intimate than the whites and grays that dominated interior design trends in past years.
Leisure spaces
Homeowners are looking for ways to take part in leisurely activities at home this summer — and, apparently, that includes listening to music indoors. The most popular design concept in the leisure category is now listening rooms, or spaces well-suited for an optimal music experience, with internet searches rising 107% in the past year. Searches for living room pianos also increased 39%. Music isn’t the only recreation activity homeowners are thinking about, though. Searches for bowling alleys and game rooms also rose 18% and 16%, respectively. Meanwhile, outside, homeowners are interested in adding bocce courts, with searches up 23%.
via Nat Rea
Reading rooms
This trend goes hand in hand with the “dark and moody” trend. Influenced by the viral style of “dark academia,” many homeowners are interested in adding reading rooms or book nooks into their living spaces. Internet searches for dark academia rose 219%, while searches for book nooks, library walls and reading corners increased by 69%, 61% and 45%, respectively.
Kid zones
Don’t forget about the kiddos! Homeowners with children are focused on adding interior design elements that cater to their kids’ needs and wants. Sometimes, that’s at the expense of a traditional design aesthetic: the most popular kid-related home design search was for race car beds, which increased by 106%. Homeowners are also searching for teen lounges (up 51%), tween bedrooms (up 48%), gaming bedrooms (up 43%) and Jack-and-Jill bathrooms (up 19%.)
Boston real estate trends
The Boston condo for sale market just can’t catch a break, with prices of homes remaining high and rising interest rates in order to obtain mortgages, now we can add a newest trend, mortgage lender bankruptcies — to the factors aggravating an already uncertain real estate market.
But what does the trouble around the mortgage business really mean? And what does it mean for non-traditional buyers trying to get a foothold in the market?
What is non-traditional real estate loans?
A non-traditional loan is the use of of income verification that are frequently used by those with unusual income scenarios such as self-employed or have credit issues that make it difficult to get a mortgage loan These are creditworthy borrowers who can’t otherwise qualify for traditional mortgage loan programs.
But with First Guaranty Mortgage Corp. and Sprout Mortgage — a pair of firms that specialized in non-traditional loans not eligible for government backing — recently running aground, real estate experts are beginning to question their value.
First Guaranty filed for bankruptcy protection while Sprout Mortgage simply shut down early this summer.
Boston Condos for Sale and the Bottom Line
This is a trend neither Boston condo buyers or sellers want to see moving forward in an already volatile real estate market,
____________________________________________________________________________________________________
Real estate trends
Home sales rose steadily again in May, as median selling prices also rose to record highs.
For the ninth consecutive month, single-family home and condominium sales rose in the Bay State, according to a new Greater Boston Association of Realtors report.
GBAR cites strong demand from millennial buyers, homeowners looking for more living space, the rebounding economy and the rollout of vaccinations for boosting both market activity and home values last month.
Boston Single-family Home Sales
Did single-family home sales rise from last year?
Single-family home sales rose 29.9% from last year, increasing from 894 homes sold in May 2020 to 1,161 homes sold last month, making it the 10th most active May on record for Greater Boston home sales, according to the report. Sales were also up 13.5% from April.
Boston Condominium Sales
Did condominium sales rise from last year?
Condominium sales increased significantly in May. In May 2020, condo sales hit a 19-year low. Last month, condo sales hit a new record with an increase of 123% from 625 units last May to 1,372 last month, according to the report. On a month-to-month basis, condo sales also improved by 9.2% from the sale of 1,256 units sold in April.
“The big crowds we saw at open houses during the first quarter have made for a frenetic spring and the busiest May for sales closings on record,” GBAR President Dino Confalone said in a press release. “It’s hard to believe our market has gone from a near standstill to overdrive in one short year, especially since listings are still in short supply, prices have never been higher, and we’re still living with the pandemic.”
Confalone said the biggest turnaround in the past year was in the condo market which had more listings and median sales prices $175,000 to $350,000 lower than single-family homes (area dependent).
“For now demand remains strong with lots of millennials entering their peak homebuying years, but affordability is becoming more of a factor in our market as prices continue to rise and mortgage rates start to creep up,” he added.
Inventory continues to be an issue
How is the Boston real estate inventory supply in 2021?
Inventory of both homes and condos remains at less than two months of supply for the third consecutive month, allowing home values to continue to grow as buyers in many markets are still far outnumbering listings and bidding wars continue to drive prices up.
Boston Single-family Inventory
What is the status of inventory for single-family homes in 2021?
The inventory of single-family homes was most extreme last month, according to the report, which showed a 41% year-over-year decline in active listings to 1,272 listings from 2,155 in 2020. The report found the number of homes listed fell 14.7% from April
Boston Condo Inventory
What is the status of the Boston condo inventory in 2021?
Boston condo listings rose 2.3% to 2,146 from 2,097 in May 2020. While listings grew year over year, they decreased 6.6% from April.
The inventory issues are discouraging for some would-be buyers, according to the report which cites less open house foot traffic and fewer buyers in recent weeks. Additionally, inventory of both single-family and condos increased by 20% since June 1.
“We expect sales to slow and the run-up in prices to ease in the second half of the year, as the current level of activity isn’t sustainable long-term,” said Confalone. “We’re already seeing homes with inflated values sitting longer and undergoing price adjustments. Properties should be fairly priced, in excellent condition and have a desirable location to sell quickly, even in today’s seller’s market.”
