Real Estate Marketplace Dramatically Changed

There is an old saying among those who know about the real estate marketplace wherever one exists.

“What goes up must come down. Buy low and sell high.”

Five years ago, the price for nearly every piece of real estate in this city was going up, straight up.

Since that time and especially beginning in 2007, the record high prices have gone the other way.

In Lynn, prices tend to rise more slowly in the up market than in the better real estate marketplaces.

When the market turns, prices here tend to go the other way more precipitously.

Since the economic collapse in 2008 and the following recession, prices here have continued a downward slide.

Properties cannot be sold at higher prices with no speculation in the marketplace – and even with the lowest interest rates since the time of the Great Depression – the real estate market here is slow and prices continue to decline.

Recently released sales figures for August of this year show that in Lynn, there were31 sales at a median price of $181,000 as compared with the same period last year when there were 40 sales at a median price of $181,000.

In neighboring Swampscott, there were 10 properties sold at a median price of $359,900 in August this year as compared with the same period last year when 14 properties were sold at a median price of $412,500.

In Saugus this year there were 16 sales at a median price of $266,000 as opposed to the same period last year when there were 7 sales at $300,000.

Selectively throughout Lynn property values have gone way down during the past 5 years.

In the Diamond District, where some of the city’s highest priced properties are located, prices have fallen dramatically, and in some cases, as much as $200,000 to $300,000 on a single property.

On Pine Hill and along the length of Lynnfield Street and on all the treed and neat streets off of it, declines have been less severe but the days of the $450,000 single family home in Lynn are gone for the present in those areas.

Three’s and multi-unit properties maintain great value but prices for them have come way down, with three family homes closer to $325,000.

Single family homes of all sorts can be purchased from $75,000 to $650,000, according to a study of listings of homes now available.

With interest rates at all-time lows, purchasing is made easier for those with great credit.

Selling for a high asking price right now is made more difficult because it is a buyer’s market.

Also, the time needed to sell a property is in the over 100 day period.

In addition, prices are tending to remain somewhat lower because of the proliferation of foreclosures which weighs against the potential of rising prices because so many of those foreclosed properties are sold at auction for far less than they are.

It is an insidious circle and presently, there seems to be no way out of it.

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