Posted on Sept. 23rd, 2014
The city of Boston is known for its innovation, education and most especially, its hard working people. However, even with all these positives, the city still facing big challenges. Most of the case is about finding a suitable place in the area, which families often find hard enough, even in the renting industry.
Just consider Rose Chau and Eric Jenson’s case. They want to get more the money they have to offer, which is the reason that brought them across the Boston Harbor. Right now, the couple has just moved to their second place within East Boston. However, they faced the threat of nearly losing their one-bedroom place to another buyer who offered to pay more. It is common knowledge to them that the Boston real estate market at the time was too competitive and that it will be a tough time for them to find a new place.
They even stated that some of their friends are now moving much farther from the city because of the rental prices. As what the CEO of The Warren Group emphasized, such occurrence is all due to the law of supply and demand. He also said that sales of home properties doubly increased in price during summer and fall. There are about 35% to 40% of properties that sell for more than its asking price and still get multiple bids.
From another professional Boston real estate agent, the present number of available properties in the market is not enough for customer to choose from. More and more first-time home buyers are losing against cash deals.
From the Massachusetts Association of Realtors, the inventory of home properties has continuously declined in the past 22 months. Buyers also have to face that they would not be able to find home properties that are in their budget range. Inventory remains an issue not only the city-area, but also in the suburbs like in Brooklyn and Winchester.
Questions about the availability of for-sale homes in the range of 400k to 600k are even arising. The only reason provided to this is people are no longer selling and buying homes in this range. There’s the added reason that these people are also worrying about their job and would not want to incur more debt.
Another related issue is how much people will have to spend for their next home. In Massachusetts’ area, the Metropolitan Area Planning Council head stated there are not enough home properties that are being built and they still need about 400k more of new homes as years pass by.
Fortunately, Government Deval Patrick decided to add 10,000 more of multi-family units in the whole state every year. In Boston, former Mayor Tom Menino supported the addition of 30,000 new homes, a project they plan to achieve by 2020.
To meet the home unit demands in the suburban areas, Draisen offered that the community should start focusing on development. He emphasized that control over it needs to be regained and enabling it to take place quickly.
The city of Boston and its people may be having a tough time in the real estate market. But aside from adding more home units to the inventory, it will also help to compromise with one’s self and remember that one might think something as necessary, but it may really not be in the end.