Shifts in Hub home prices were all over the map

The median home price in Boston was unchanged in the past year at $390,000, but that stability masked wide swings in prices in the city's 15 neighborhoods.

Prices declined a sharp 17.5 percent, to $329,900, in the once-red-hot East Boston market, and fell more modestly in Jamaica Plain and some downtown neighborhoods. But three outer, more affordable neighborhoods -- Mattapan, Charlestown, and Allston-Brighton -- experienced large price increases.

``We're at one of those moments that we're not sure what is happening next," said Tim Davis, senior research analyst for the city's Department of Neighborhood Development, which prepared the report. ``It's flat and that won't tell us what the future direction is. This could be a temporary pause or prices could be on the way down."

A real estate boom in East Boston was fueled by the opening of the Big Dig tunnels. That eased traffic congestion in the Sumner and Callahan tunnels to and from East Boston and Logan International Airport, increasing the neighborhood's appeal to downtown workers who bought condos there. Sales in fiscal year 2006 ended June 30 surged 56 percent, to 657.

The drop in the median price reflected strong sales of condos, such as the Porter 156 development, city officials said. Many multifamily homes that once sold as single properties have been converted into two, three, or more condominiums, each selling for less than the building as a whole once fetched.

``The fall in the median is directly related to the increase in volume," Davis said.

East Boston agent Pram Ekaputra of Perlera Real Estate said ``condo conversions are still the hot items." But he said sales of multifamilies that can be converted to condos have slowed dramatically in recent months. For example, his $799,000 listing for a three-family home with a three-car garage on Trenton Street has been on the market 76 days -- unheard of last year for a property that could be converted to condos with parking, ``a huge selling point in East Boston," he said. Last year, he added, ``This would've been snapped up."

In the city as a whole, though, the number of sales fell 7.5 percent. A long real estate boom in Boston, fueled by real estate speculation, condo conversions, and unprecedented development of large condo projects, has slowed dramatically in the past year.

In Jamaica Plain and Roslindale for example, weaker sales dragged down prices. Jamaica Plain's sales, in the wake of a boom that emanated from its Centre Street commercial district, dropped 9.8 percent in fiscal 2006, and the median sales price fell 1.2 percent, to $357,000, the city said. Next door in Roslindale, a neighborhood dominated by single-family homes, sales also fell, by 5.6 percent. Roslindale's prices flattened out -- the median single family is $376,000. Agent Bob Athanasiadis predicted prices could decrease up to 2.5 percent this fall.

``Condos are going to be a lot worse" than house prices, he said. ``The market is saturated with condos, not only in Roslindale but everywhere," he said.

Athanasiadis, of Century 21 Treon Realty in Roslindale, said he gave up ``a lot of" business from home sellers who refused to set realistic asking prices that would generate a sale. ``I say the house isn't going to sell, and you're going to end up dropping the price," he said, and ``I tell them good luck." Eventually, he added, ``they come down to the price I gave them in the beginning."

In the Central neighborhood, defined as the waterfront, North End, West End, Chinatown, and financial and Leather districts, sales and prices decreased. Condo sales fell 8.2 percent, causing a small 0.8 percent price reduction, to $555,250, in the median condo price.

In the South End and Charlestown, Boston housing analyst Davis said sales fell as condo development slowed, with fewer new units coming on in those maturing markets. Condo sales in the South End, one of the first Boston neighborhoods to gentrify, fell 26.6 percent in fiscal 2006, while the median price fell 3 percent, to $509,000. In Charlestown, condo sales dropped 29.9 percent, yet prices gained 9.7 percent, reaching $499,900.

One factor in Dorchester's abrupt slowdown was an end to speculative condo conversions and speculators reselling, or ``flipping," properties rapidly to profit from price gains. When prices stopped their ascent, investors left the market.

Near Dorchester's Savin Hill and Shawmut Avenue MBTA rapid transit stops, three-family homes were purchased and gut-renovated with granite countertops, and the relatively affordable condos were bought by young professionals.

As a result, Dorchester's fiscal 2006 condo sales continued to increase, by 5.4 percent, while three-family sales slumped by 20.7 percent. Prices responded: the median condo price rose 7.8 percent, to $290,000; three-family prices rose just 1 percent, to $530,000.

``The buyers who want to flip them into condos aren't there anymore," said Dorchester agent Lee Robinson with Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage.

Kimberly Blanton can be reached at blanton@globe.com.