Banker & Tradesman, October 30, 2017

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the

financial

www.bankerandtradesman.com

WEEK OF MONDAY, OCTOBER 30, 2017

services

and

real

estate

weekly

for

massachusetts

A Publication of The Warren Group REMOVING BARRIERS

Developers Bet On Charlestown Jackpot Change Is Coming To Sullivan Square BY STEVE ADAMS BANKER & TRADESMAN STAFF

T

he first residential building at Charlestown’s master-planned Hood Park was designed not just with Rutherford Avenue’s existing dreary industrial landscape in mind, but also its future as a walkable new neighborhood that some envision as the next Ink Block or Assembly Row. With 100 percent of the office space in the former dairy plant buildings now occupied, owner Catamount Management Corp. of Lynnfield sees multifamily development as the logical next step. A 177-unit apartment building that broke ground this month at 480 Rutherford Ave. will bring more 24-7 activity to the 20-acre property. “It’s the beginning of the evolution of Hood Park into a mixed-use environment,” said Mark Rosenshein, a senior vice president at Colliers Boston, development advisor to Catamount. The site appears well-positioned to join the busy pace of development along Boston’s urban edge. Cambridge College Continued on Page 9 ARRESTED DEVELOPMENT

Mass. Must Ramp Up Homebuilding To Accommodate Amazon Realtors Look To Legislature To Loosen Laws BY JIM MORRISON BANKER & TRADESMAN STAFF

T

here’s a lot of excitement around the possibility of Amazon delivering up to 50,000 jobs over 10 to 15 years to the local economy directly, and perhaps as many more indirectly, if the Internet behemoth builds its second headquarters here. But given the historically low real estate inventory and paucity of new construction across the state, finding housing for that many people would be a struggle. Of the 238 U.S., Canadian and Mexican communities that made a bid for Amazon’s HQ2, 26 were from Massachusetts – and it’s Continued on Page 8

COMMERCIAL INTERESTS

HOME PRICES SOAR IN THE MIDDLE OF THE MARKET Sleepy Suburbs See Double-Digit Price Increases As Sales Figures Drop

Middle Market Suburbs See Price Jumps As Sales Fall BURLINGTON 2016 SALES: 187 2017 SALES: 161 PERCENT CHANGE: -13.90%

BY SCOTT VAN VOORHIS | BANKER & TRADESMAN COLUMNIST

H

ome prices are in overdrive in Greater Boston, but this time the toniest suburbs aren’t leading charge. Prices have certainly risen to crazy new heights in perennial hot spots like Cambridge, Newton and Wellesley over the past few years, but the pace has slowed as of late, reaching a plateau or maybe even a peak. But values are soaring in the broad middle of the market, with suburbs ranging from Medway to Wayland seeing high-single digit and even double-digit growth in sale prices accompanied by a drop in SCOTT VAN VOORHIS numbers of sales, according to statistical analysis from The Warren Group, publisher of Banker & Tradesman. The combination of rising prices and falling sales is hardly due to any drop in demand, but rather the opposite; buyers are forced to scrap it out over a small and declining number of available homes. The Boston area’s long and increasing dire shortage of housing is taking a toll on the market, with the inventory of unsold homes plunging more than 25 percent in September from a year before, to 2,494, the Greater Boston Association of Realtors reports. Nowhere can this trend be seen in sharper relief than in Medford, a solid, middle-class community that has seen a big increase in home prices as buyers are squeezed out of far Continued on Page 3

2016 MEDIAN PRICE: $480,000 2017 MEDIAN PRICE: $522,000 PERCENT CHANGE: 87.5%

MEDFORD 2016 SALES: 242 2017 SALES: 232 PERCENT CHANGE: -4.13% 2016 MEDIAN PRICE: $506,500 2017 MEDIAN PRICE: $582,500 PERCENT CHANGE: 15%

MEDWAY 2016 SALES: 144 2017 SALES: 130 PERCENT CHANGE: -9.72% 2016 MEDIAN PRICE: $382,400 2017 MEDIAN PRICE: $402,750 PERCENT CHANGE: 5.32%

CONTENTS Points ����������������������������������������������������������������������� 4

Residential �������������������������������������������������������������� 8

Classified Sections ������������������������������������������������� 11

By The Numbers ������������������������������������������������������� 6

Commercial & Industrial ������������������������������������������ 9

CRE Insider ����������������������������������������������������������� B1

In Person ������������������������������������������������������������������ 7

Banking & Lending ������������������������������������������������� 10

Records Section ������������������������������������������������������ C1


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