Boston real estate market better than most

Though the Boston area has experienced recent home sales drops, a relatively stable jobs market there has continued to attract workers from around the country.

Third quarter data from the National Association of Realtors showed that local home prices in the Boston-Cambridge-Quincy metropolitan area of Massachusetts have grown for most of this year as the local market has experienced some level of stability recently. Home prices in Boston have grown 5.3 percent over the past year, while the rest of the nation has seen prices drop 0.6 percent during that same time period.

At the same time, Boston has not been immune from the equity drops that have harmed homeowners around the country - those who have owned homes in the area have lost an average $48,200 in home values over the past three years. Comparatively, homeowners who moved to Boston a decade ago have still been able to gain more than $50,000 in average equity over that time span.

Additionally, the city's job growth rate was 1 percent over the past year - an encouraging sign that the improving jobs market will stabilize local home prices for those moving to the region in the near future.

Still, a lack of buyer incentives has helped to slow moving activity in Boston and the entire state. The Warren Group reported that home sales in Massachusetts decreased more than 28 percent in October compared to a year earlier.
 

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