Patriots in the Super Bowl usually means good news for Boston sellers

This column by broker and analyst David Bates originally appeared on Curbed Boston in February 2015. We're re-running it because of the Patriots' pending appearance in Super Bowl LI.

The year the Patriots won their first Super Bowl, 2002, reports from the region's multiple-listings service show that there were 36 percent more Boston condo sales and the city's median condo sales price went up 23 percent compare with 2001. For real estate, that's a championship year!

The year the Pats won their second Super Bowl, 2004, MLS reports show a 48 percent increase in Boston condo sales and a 10 percent appreciation in the median sales price. And the year the Pats defeated the Philadelphia Eagles to win their third Super Bowl, 2005, was a year that had more Boston MLS listed condo sales (4,687) than any year before or since.

Patriot championships seemed to go hand-in-hand with banner years for the Hub condo market.

When the Pats lost to the Giants in the Super Bowl in 2008, the local market was good enough for Tom Brady to sell his condo at 314 Commonwealth Avenue for $5.285 million shortly thereafter. By mid-year, Boston median condo sale prices were up 3 percent.

But, on Sept. 7, 2008, something more unthinkable than the David Tyree catch happened: In the opening game against the Buffalo Bills, Brady sustained a season-ending injury. Almost immediately afterward, as if there was a direct correlation, the financial markets collapsed and the local real estate market sank, too.

The Pats failed to make the playoffs in 2009; got blown out at home by the Ravens in 2010; and lost to the hated Jets in 2011. Naturally, folks voiced their doubts about Hub real estate as well ... But, when the Patriots returned to the Super Bowl in February 2012, those doubts went away, provoking Hub condo sales in 2012 to shoot up 24 percent and the city's median sales price to go up 8 percent.

Tom Brady seemingly immediately identified the newfound optimism for the Hub condo market, and sold his Back Bay penthouse for $9.2 million.

With the acquisition of superstar cornerback Darrelle Revis in 2014, there was incredible optimism about the Patriots' Super Bowl chances. Not surprisingly, Hub real estate developers started announcing and breaking ground on projects of unprecedented size and scope.

And now that the Lombardi Trophy has returned to the City of Champions, it quite possibly means another banner year for Hub condo sales.