Boston-area home prices softening at the start of fall: Analysis

Prices in many areas of the Boston region appear to be softening at the unofficial start of fall amid a drop in the number of active listings.

That is according to a new analysis of market-rate listings from real estate research site NeighborhoodX. The analysis excluded foreclosures, short sales, income-restricted dwellings, properties positioned as development sites, and listings with incomplete or contradictory information.

What’s left is a snapshot of what homes are asking on average per square foot at the start of the season.

The range overall runs from $111 a foot for the lowest-priced listing in Roxbury to $2,996 a foot for the highest-priced one in Back Bay. See the chart below.

In some neighborhoods, including the Seaport, Kenmore-Fenway, Kendall Square, and Assembly Square, new condos are driving the market, according to Constantine Valhouli, NeighborhoodX’s research director.

"With fewer listings in some key markets,” Valhouli said over email, “this means that a new-development building with multiple units listed can have a greater effect on the average price in a particular neighborhood.”