We've been hearing for months about home prices rising as the real estate market improves. This may leave many homebuyers stressed about being priced out of the market.
This may be where buying a condominium has its benefits. During the housing bubble, developers built countless condo complexes in the area. And with 40B laws requiring a certain percent be affordable, those complexes were built big to accommodate.
Then the real estate market collapsed, and condominiums tend to be the first to foreclose.
The result was a huge inventory of condominiums and low prices. While prices have increased a little, they have not kept up with the pace of single-family homes, which is why you notice a huge price gap between houses and condos.
"The truth is condominiums remain a great buy in North Andover and Andover, offering many home buyers the opportunity to take advantage of our great schools, activities and other community assets with reasonable prices and continued low interest rates," Tricia Melvin, real estate agent with Century 21, said.
And sellers, this can also be a great time to sell your condo.
"Well-priced condos are 'off-market" in a matter of days," Melvin said. "Some time in the proximate future we'll see the selling prices of 2005-2006 again, making condo living in our wonderful towns a great current value."
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