The second article in our series about Jamaica Plain's real estate market is about the single-family home market. We asked several JP real estate agents for their thoughts on the houses in which you don't have people living above you or sharing your walls -- although there's always the kids and your in-laws (if you let them move in).
What are you observing in Jamaica Plain’s single-family market?
Maureen McElroy, Jamaica Hill Realty
Here are some stats on single-family houses (as of April 6):
- Eight active single-family homes ranging in price from $799,000 to $2,499,000
- Nine single-family homes pending
- Seven sold from Jan. 1, 2o17, through March 6, 2017, with an average sales price of $851,643 and an average price per square foot $382.
- At this time last year, 14 single-family homes had sold, with an average sales price of $862,883 and a $395 price per square foot.
It is still too early in the season to judge prices on single-family homes because there is such low inventory and data available.
Josh Brett, Nextdoor Realty Team at Unlimited Sotheby’s International Realty
Activity in the JP single-family market is anticipated to begin picking up as spring progresses. There have been only three JP single-family homes closed in the past two months, yet 10 single-family homes are under contract to purchase. Of the seven JP single-family homes currently for sale, only three are under a million dollars and, of those, two are fixer-uppers.
Josh Muncey, Ellen, Janis, & Josh Real Estate Team
Like the condo market, the single-family market is very competitive. Single-family homes in Jamaica Plain have become an extremely hot commodity as more and more families are opting to stay in the city instead of moving out to the suburbs when having school-age children. There is an especially high demand for single-family homes that are centrally located and walking distance to the train, restaurants and parks.
Tristan Rushton, Coldwell Banker
With fewer single-family homes than condos available in JP, they are fewer and further between to start with and are also in high demand, especially in central JP.
Randal Engelmann, Focus Real Estate
The number of single-family home sales are down significantly in the first quarter of 2017 over the first quarter 2016 and, conversely, the prices are much higher. With more and more families staying in Boston to raise their children, this means the number of people in the household is going up and they need more space. Finally, the average family is living in their home nine years, which is up dramatically from six years a decade ago. This means even less inventory. We have also been noticing a trend of buyers purchasing single-family homes in top locations for very aggressive prices and putting a lot of working them.
Karen McCormack, McCormack & Scanlan
The same atmosphere exists in the single-family market as in the condo market. Actually, across all of the sales markets it's the same: The inventory is low and the number of buyers high.