What is Real Estate

Writen by Jon Ernest

With interest rates on the rise, the outlook of the Cambridge condo market is not so bright. As of today, there are 407 condo for sale, ranging from a 370 square foot 1 bedroom in North Cambridge for $199,900, to a 4235 square foot floor through unit on the Charles River in the Esplanade for only $3,950,000 (condo fees of more than $2800 a month). If there were at least 135 buyers last month, I would argue that it was still a sellers market. But unfortunately for you Cambridge condo sellers out there, the market saw only 38 buyers this past month.

This means that there was over a 10 months supply, for every buyer last month, there were more than 10 sellers competing for their offer. And if the demand for condos continues at this rate, it would take almost a year to burn through the current supply. And that's assuming that more properties don't come on the market in that time.

This softening trend is also reflected in the difference between list price and sales price. In the last month, the average list price for a condo in Cambridge was $513,861, and the average sales price was $496,236. The difference of $17,000 below asking price that we see, does not take into account any price drops that occurred before the listing agents received their offers.

So sellers, with an average marketing time of over 90 days, if you need to sell you condo in Cambridge, the question is not "What is the most I can get for my property?" The question you should be asking you agent is "How do I need to price my unit to get it sold?" And the short answer is, "Aggressively and Competitively"

Jon Ernest is the Principle Broker of Spotlight Realty. A small, independently owned, full service residential real estate agency in Brookline, Massachusetts.

http://www.SpotlightRE.com
Condos for sale