Condo Prices Jump Most in Affordable Areas; Foreclosures Mount

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BOSTON-Reports from ForeclosuresMass Corp. and the Boston Department of Neighborhood Development revealed that foreclosures are increasing by double digits throughout Massachusetts and Greater Boston. The Boston report also shows that, throughout the city, sales prices of condos, which represented 67% of all 2005 residential sales, rose just 0.2%, versus a 4.6%-increase in single-family homes. However, condo prices in the city’s most affordable neighborhood in 2004, East Boston, jumped 18.9%, a steeper 2005 increase than occurred in condo sales in any of the 14 other neighborhoods.

The median price of a condo in East Boston rose from $219,000 in 2004 to $260,287 a year later, according to the report. At the same time, the median price of a condo in Central Boston increased to $525,000, up 15.3% from the previous year, and the median condo sale in Back Bay/Beacon Hill hit $525,000, a 9.4%-rise for the year. The lowest increase, 0.3%, occurred in Jamaica Plain, where the median condo sale reached $324,900 at year-end 2005. At that time, Mattapan registered the lowest median condo sale price of all Boston neighborhoods, $237,500, up 8% from its median in 2004.