It's no news that housing is scarce in the Hub. How scarce is it? Well, new numbers from The Herald's broker-columnist Jennifer Athas say pretty damn scarce:
· In Boston the inventory of unsold homes on the market dropped 22 percent annually in April.
· In Somerville, where hipsters are welcome and their techie girlfriends, too, inventory was down 21 percent.
· In Cambridge, it was down 44 percent.
What's causing the drops? We suspect the Hub's absurdly high rents; historically low mortgage rates (still); and, perhaps most importantly, what we mentioned at the outset: the already low supply of let's say desirable housing. The region for a long time has been building the wrong kind of housing, so to speak, small and not family friendly. People want to live here but they can't find housing at even relatively affordable prices. In a desirable area in an economic recovery, these are the statistics of chickens coming home to roost.
· Bay State Home Prices on the Rise [Herald]
· Why the Hub Housing Market Could Get Worse, Much Worse [Curbed Boston]
· Boston Is for Lovers (Just Not Their Kids): a New Apt. Dynamic [Curbed Boston]
· Somerville to Board Tech Train as Mayor Praises 'Hipsters' [Curbed Boston]