'Tis the unofficial start of autumn (though the temperature would beg to differ) and so we dive right into the pile of leaves that is Boston-area real estate over the next few months. What trends and developments should you be watching? What events could turn things on their head? From casinos to the T to mega-towers to actions in D.C., we bring you Curbed Boston's annual fall preview.
More Incentives for Luxury Tenants
The region's luxury apartment market is finally turning definitively in favor of tenants. Look for a lot more newer developments offering free months, no broker fees and other incentives as they seek to fill their units. As for the middle and lower ends of the market, who knows? The softening up top might trickle down. It's worth following.
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Condo Price-Chops Becoming the Norm
Once upon a time, every condo on the Boston, Cambridge and Somerville sales markets in particular went for at least its asking price if not way, way over. That has started to change. The aggregate numbers show it's still a good time to be a condo seller hereabouts, but the reality on the ground shows a definite shift. Of course, it may have always been that brokers and sellers were simply pricing homes deliberately low just to get over-asks. So perhaps what we'll see this fall is nothing but reality setting in.
A Universal Truce in Bidding Wars
This is based on the above item and is just a hunch, albeit a strong one. With the cooling of the Boston-area sales market and the real possibility that mortgage rates will creep steadily up from their historic lows, we may see the area's last major bidding wars for a while. Multiple competing bids were once de rigueur. Not anymore. You'll see them here and there; but probably not as frequently.
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Millennium Tower Topping Out
A no-brainer this one: The most significant Boston residential tower in eons tops out later this month. Why is the approximately 690-foot Millennium Tower that important? Well, the Manhattan-esque prices for one thing. For another the spire's potential to transform the surrounding Downtown Crossing neighborhood once and for all.
A Condo Record in Waiting
This follows on the above: One of Millennium Tower's 442 condos could very well break the standing Boston record for a condo sale ($13.2M). We're watching that top-floor spread asking $37.5M. You?
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Serious Progress on the Everett Casino
Steve Wynn's planned $1.7B casino-resort in Everett just cleared a major state environmental hurdle. Plus, the Vegas mogul's firm has already opened an office to manage its construction. Big-time progress on the project (rendered above) is surely not far off. Stay tuned.
Rerouting the Green Line Extension
So much depends on extending the Green Line through Somerville to Medford: new condo developments, apartment rents, the fates of small businesses. It is impossible to overstate the importance of that trolley rolling northwestward. Yet the scope of the extension and its new stations remains in doubt. No one's saying it won't happen—they're just not sure at this point how it will happen. Perhaps the autumn will bring clarity.
· Boston Glutpocalypse! Broker, Landlord Panic Grips Luxury End [Curbed Boston]
· More Proof 'Over-Ask' Is Hub's Real Estate Word of the Year [Curbed Boston]
· Hub Condo Sellers Getting Just Over Their Asking Price [Curbed Boston]
· 3 Signs Greater Boston's Housing Market Is Actually Cooling [Curbed Boston]
· Are Hub Sellers Asking Less to Get More? A New Era Dawns [Curbed Boston]
· Further Proof the Hub's One Big Condo-Bidding Warzone [Curbed Boston]
· Millennium Tower Sets a Date for Its Official Topping-Off [Curbed Boston]
· The Tower That Hopes to Remake Downtown Crossing [Curbed Boston]
· Millennium Tower's Floor-Through Penthouse Asking $37.5M [Curbed Boston]
· In or Out? Everett Casino-Resort Confronts Crucial Decision [Curbed Boston]
· No Green Line Extension?! A Lot of People Are Worried [Curbed Boston]
· Somerville Is Doomed to Be a More Desirable Place to Live [Curbed Boston]
· Here's How Many Condos Have Sold at 197 Union Square [Curbed Boston]
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