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Not As Many Hub Sellers Getting More Than They Ask For

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Here's the latest installment of Bates By the Numbers, a weekly feature by Boston real estate agent David Bates that drills down into the Hub's housing market to uncover those trends you would not otherwise see. Check out his new ebook, Context: Nine Key Condo Markets.

The share of over-ask offers in nine key Greater Boston condo markets* dropped to 47 percent of sales in September, down from around 53 percent in August and 55.9 percent in July. As well, only 25 condo sellers in these markets took offers of more than $50,000 over asking in September, about half the amount of sellers who did so in August.

Moreover, the over-ask temperature differs by neighborhood. Back Bay is still the neighborhood voted least likely to garner an over-ask, and in September only 10 of 38 Back Bay sellers went home with more than they had asked. Beacon Hill also remains a tough market to convince condo buyers to pay more than the list price.

Yet, if some folks have lost a little enthusiasm for the market, I doubt it's Brookline sellers. I took buyers to a few standing-room only Brookline open houses over the last few weeks, so it comes as no surprise that Brookline led the pack of over-ask neighborhoods: 77 percent of its September sales were for more than the list price. Additionally, of the five September condos that sold for at least $100K over asking in these nine markets, three were in Brookline, including the highest over-ask of the month: 64 Parkman Street, #3, which went $215,593 above the list price.

Cambridge, Charlestown and Somerville were also markets where more than half of September sales went for list price-and-then-some. In the South End (46 percent), South Boston (42 percent), and Jamaica Plain (43 percent), it was close, but more often than not, sellers took something less than over-ask.
* Back Bay, Beacon Hill, Brookline, Cambridge, Charlestown, Jamaica Plain, Somerville, South Boston and the South End
· Our Bates By the Numbers archive [Curbed Boston]