The North End is arguably Boston's most beautiful, if not coolest, neighborhood. Sure, it's got its problems. College kids come up just to vomit on shopkeepers' stoops. There are piles of dog shit everywhere, apparently. Illegal grills render building after building a potential tinderbox. Still, the architecture, the location and the very vibe are hard to beat. So we thought we'd drill down a bit into LINK Boston's recently released, 99-page, second-quarter report on the downtown condo market to see what's doing in the North End.
Firstly, condo sales there were way up annually in the three months ending June 30. Overall, they were up nearly 90 percent, after five straight years of either negative or anemic growth. Moreover, sales of one-bedrooms were up a gong-rattling 185.71 percent (sales of two-bedrooms were up a respectable 36.36 percent as well as and three-bedroom sales were basically the same).
As for prices in the North End, they were generally up over 2011, though still well below what we saw during the boom years of last decade. The median sales price, probably the best measure, was up a modest 9.13 percent to $404,500; and the average price per square foot, another benchmark, was up more than 18 percent to $600.77.
Finally, the inventory of unsold condos on the North End market (see above graph). Yup. Tight. Just like everywhere downtown.
· North End to Drunks: Knock It Off or Go to Jail [Curbed Boston]
· North End Residents to Rude Dog Lovers: Don't Dump on Us! [Curbed Boston]
· Grillgate! North End Rooftops Aflame w/ Illegal Barbies [Curbed Boston]
· The Smallest Boston Real Estate Story [Curbed Boston]
Yesterday, we checked in on Back Bay condos and found they were getting even pricier.