Home sales are positive in 2015, but that cannot obscure the larger problems that face Boston’s housing market

The Boston real estate market in 2015 is experiencing its strongest year since the downturn, although significant problems remain.

According to the latest report from the Greater Boston Association of Realtors (GBAR), single-family sales in the Boston area were up 6.1 percent year-over-year in November, and are up 6.7 percent year-to-date. Condo sales were even stronger, rising 15.8 percent from last year, although year to date, sales are down 0.1 percent.

Pending sales activity was also very strong. For the single-family market, pending sales jumped 19.9 percent in November, and are up 10.5 percent over 2014; for condos, pending sales were up 14.9 percent yearly and 4.3 percent year to date.

Affordability Concerns Persist

Home sales may have been positive in November, but GBAR’s report further underscored Greater Boston’s affordability concerns, which have only worsened:

• The median sales price for single-family homes was $477,000, a 6.0 percent increase from last year; the condo median sales price, at $450,000, rose even more by 8.4 percent.
• Additionally, inventory continued to decline, falling 12.9 percent for single-family homes and 6.0 percent for condos; at the end of November, there were 3,065 single-family homes on the market in Greater Boston, and just 1,551 condos.
• Unsurprisingly, with prices rising and supply falling, housing affordability suffered. For the single-family market, GBAR’s Affordability Index fell 5.1 percent, and for the condo market, it fell 6.5 percent; in the last two years, single-family affordability is down 16.81 percent, and for condos, it is down 15.97 percent.

If there is one sector of the Greater Boston market that benefits from those trajectories, it is undoubtedly home sellers. Year to date, condo sellers have received 100.1 percent of their original list price, while single-family sellers have received 97.8 percent.