Hull real estate
Hull’s real estate market favors buyers,
but local brokers optimistic for 2007
By Joe Berkeley
According to a recent report issued by the Massachusetts Association of Realtors, single-family home median prices in the state were down 5.4 percent from $354,000 in December of 2005 to $335,000 in December of 2006. The number of homes sold in Massachusetts decreased by 16.6 percent – from 3,574 in 2005 to 2,980 the following year.
At first glance, one would think that single-family homes in Hull were doing better than single-family homes in other parts of the Commonwealth. After all, according to Banker & Tradesman, a weekly real estate publication, the median price for a single-family home in Hull was $375,000 in 2006, up from $351,000 in 2005.
Yet that statistic only tells a part of the story. A median is like the gregarious uncle who’s had one too many adult beverages at the family party. Both are entertaining, but neither let the truth get in the way of a good story.
The online resource Wikipedia states, “The median of a finite list of numbers can be found by arranging all the observations from lowest value to highest value and picking the middle one.”
“In 2005, my average sale was $470,000. In 2006, my average sale was $380,000. So the average sale price is coming down, even though the median price is going up,” said Justine Augenstern, a sales associate in the Hull office of Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage.
She believes the sector of the Hull real estate market that suffered the most, and brought the average selling price down, while increasing the median selling price, were homes priced between $500,000 and $800,000.
“We rely on the second-home market for about 20 percent of our sales and that market’s almost dried up,” she said. “The second-home market tends to buy homes for more than $500,000. Those homes are not moving well.”
The most active sector of the Hull real estate market in 2006, according to Augenstern, was the “middle point,” which she described as single-family homes priced between $250,000 and $450,000. “If those homes are priced right, they’re sold. We could use more listings in that range,” she said.
To put today's market in historical perspective, Augenstern explained that single-family home prices in Hull doubled from 2001 to 2005. Even as late as the first quarter of 2005, it was fairly easy to turn over a property in 90 days. But by the summer of 2005, buyers felt that the prices were too high. Augenstern reports that 30 percent fewer homes were sold in Hull in the year 2006 than in the prior year.
As of this writing, there are 81 single-family homes for sale in Hull. In the summer of 2006, there were more than 140 for sale.
There could be reason to believe that the market is going to improve in Hull. According to Andrea Cohen, an agent at Sea Coast Homes, “We’ve been busier [recently] than we were this summer with both residential and commercial properties. We think that with the Greenbush train coming, Hull is going to come back sooner. As a town on the water, we have something to offer that other towns don’t … it’s a wonderful community to have your children grow up in.”
She’s also observed that the property appraisers, who are hired by the banks to determine the value of homes they will finance, note that Hull is becoming more of a year-round community, which is good for property values.
Yet for the near future, it’s a buyer’s market. Augenstern said, “It’s a good time for our new town manager to go house shopping.”
but local brokers optimistic for 2007
By Joe Berkeley
According to a recent report issued by the Massachusetts Association of Realtors, single-family home median prices in the state were down 5.4 percent from $354,000 in December of 2005 to $335,000 in December of 2006. The number of homes sold in Massachusetts decreased by 16.6 percent – from 3,574 in 2005 to 2,980 the following year.
At first glance, one would think that single-family homes in Hull were doing better than single-family homes in other parts of the Commonwealth. After all, according to Banker & Tradesman, a weekly real estate publication, the median price for a single-family home in Hull was $375,000 in 2006, up from $351,000 in 2005.
Yet that statistic only tells a part of the story. A median is like the gregarious uncle who’s had one too many adult beverages at the family party. Both are entertaining, but neither let the truth get in the way of a good story.
The online resource Wikipedia states, “The median of a finite list of numbers can be found by arranging all the observations from lowest value to highest value and picking the middle one.”
“In 2005, my average sale was $470,000. In 2006, my average sale was $380,000. So the average sale price is coming down, even though the median price is going up,” said Justine Augenstern, a sales associate in the Hull office of Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage.
She believes the sector of the Hull real estate market that suffered the most, and brought the average selling price down, while increasing the median selling price, were homes priced between $500,000 and $800,000.
“We rely on the second-home market for about 20 percent of our sales and that market’s almost dried up,” she said. “The second-home market tends to buy homes for more than $500,000. Those homes are not moving well.”
The most active sector of the Hull real estate market in 2006, according to Augenstern, was the “middle point,” which she described as single-family homes priced between $250,000 and $450,000. “If those homes are priced right, they’re sold. We could use more listings in that range,” she said.
To put today's market in historical perspective, Augenstern explained that single-family home prices in Hull doubled from 2001 to 2005. Even as late as the first quarter of 2005, it was fairly easy to turn over a property in 90 days. But by the summer of 2005, buyers felt that the prices were too high. Augenstern reports that 30 percent fewer homes were sold in Hull in the year 2006 than in the prior year.
As of this writing, there are 81 single-family homes for sale in Hull. In the summer of 2006, there were more than 140 for sale.
There could be reason to believe that the market is going to improve in Hull. According to Andrea Cohen, an agent at Sea Coast Homes, “We’ve been busier [recently] than we were this summer with both residential and commercial properties. We think that with the Greenbush train coming, Hull is going to come back sooner. As a town on the water, we have something to offer that other towns don’t … it’s a wonderful community to have your children grow up in.”
She’s also observed that the property appraisers, who are hired by the banks to determine the value of homes they will finance, note that Hull is becoming more of a year-round community, which is good for property values.
Yet for the near future, it’s a buyer’s market. Augenstern said, “It’s a good time for our new town manager to go house shopping.”
posted by joe berkeley at 6:20 PM
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