BOSTON—Otis & Ahearn has stats on the condo market for tonier neighborhoods like Beacon Hill, Back Bay, the North End and the South End, and they look familiar: "Although the start of the year is tracking closely to the YTD data of 2011, the middle of the market, between $499,999 and $999,999 accounted for 40% of the sales, the previous YTD high in this range was 36% in 2007. The high end, sales over $1 Million, is solid with 13.53% of transaction volume. This continues the 2011 trend for the over $1 Million segment." [Otis & Ahearn]
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MASS.-WIDE—Steve Syre is skeptical of the big foreclosure settlement: "Ideas that help restore a normal home sales market will have the greatest impact on the most people and - eventually - the entire economy. That’s why I am more intrigued by a very different real estate plan developing in Washington. The federal agency that oversees Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, and the Federal Housing Administration is experimenting with a strategy to attract large investors to buy portfolios of foreclosed homes and agree to rent them for a period of time." [Globe]