Marked down to move

A battered housing market is forcing sellers in top-tier communities to cut prices

(Patricia McDonnell for The Boston Globe / File 2006) Condos at a former Red Cross building at 287 and 285 Columbus Ave. in Boston's South End. One developer sealed the deal with a couple by throwing in a parking space and slashing the price.

The financial crisis and housing downturn are opening up potential buying opportunities in some top-tier neighborhoods and towns in the Boston area as home sellers cut prices to move their properties, new data suggest.

Towns such as Sherborn and Concord are seeing large percentages of homes for sale being marked down, according to a new survey by Redfin, the Seattle online real estate brokerage and data firm. The same is true for some of the hottest Boston neighborhoods in recent years, such as the South End, Charlestown, and Beacon Hill.

"Price reductions are certainly an indicator that a person is committed to selling," said David Brose of Boston's City Realty Group. "They are more committed to selling than to a particular price."

In the leafy suburb of Sherborn, 71 percent of the homes for sale have been marked down in the last three months. That's second only to Ayer. In Concord, 51 percent of listed properties have been reduced in price by their owners over the past few months. In similar towns in the western suburbs, the percentage of homes reduced in price ranges from 30 to 40 percent.

The price reductions, in turn, have encouraged some buyers to make a run at homes that would have been out of their range during the boom years, said Laurie Cadigan, the owner of Barrett & Co. in Concord. She is working with a couple in Concord who wants to trade up to a more spacious Colonial from their cramped Cape - a move that previously would not have been within their grasp.

"They can now buy up," Cadigan said. "As long as you feel confident with your own finances and with your employment situation, this is a great time to buy."

Single-family home prices in Concord have dropped nearly 13 percent so far this year, to a median of $697,500, Warren Group reports, compared with a 10 percent drop in prices statewide. Sherborn, meanwhile, has actually seen median prices increase this year - 18 percent. But there were also very few homes sold in the town so far.

There's another prevailing trend at work within communities - large numbers of properties are being pulled off the market altogether, the owners apparently choosing to sit out a market where sales prices are largely only going down. This is making it harder for buyers to find the perfect fit, or even just having enough of a variety to choose from. It also makes finding a bargain difficult.

Dr. Karyn Stern and her husband are looking in Concord. With a price range of $500,000 to $1 million, the couple should have plenty to choose from. They've seen many homes that have been reduced in price, commonly to the $900,000s from more than $1 million.

But in her view, those prices are still too high for some of the homes they have seen, many of which need extensive work and updates.

"For $900,000 you are getting a little, tiny house that would be $200,000 anywhere else in the country," she said. "I think a lot of good houses per se are not being put on the market because they are afraid to sell."

Concord saw 87 homes pulled off the market over the past three months, according to Redfin. In Sherborn, 32 homes have been taken off the market recently; for the year so far, only 31 homes have sold there, according to Warren Group.

A similar story can be found in some of Boston's more coveted neighborhoods, where the number of price reductions works at a cross current to the number of properties that have been taken off the market.

In Charlestown, nearly half the homes on the market, 45 percent, have been reduced in price over the past three months. In the Back Bay and Beacon Hill, the number is 40 percent. But more than 500 homes and condos have been pulled off the market in the three neighborhoods during the same period.

Even in the South End, where values have gone through the roof, nearly one-third of sellers on the market, or 27 percent, have dropped their prices over the past three months, according to Redfin. But more than 268 condos and homes have also been taken off the market.

Some of the best deals may be found in the myriad of newly built condo projects in these neighborhoods, with developers ready to throw in a range of concessions to move units, brokers say.

That's what Boston broker David Crowley found when he helped a couple from California buy a $1.2 million condo in the South End.

The pair, who work for John Hancock, bought a two-bedroom unit at 285 Columbus Ave., the former Red Cross building that was recently converted into lofts. To seal the deal, the developer threw in a parking space, and slashed more than $140,000 off the price.

John Ford, the owner of Ford Realty, a downtown brokerage, said developers now routinely throw in a range of perks, from upgrading countertops to granite to offering to pay several months of condo fees.

Still, in the current market, only sellers who have to sell, because of a job shift or change in personal circumstances, are putting their homes on the market, Crowley said.

That can make for motivated sellers, but it can also reduce the number of choices available. In the South End, the inventory of available homes and condos stands at just over three months.

"The people selling now really have to sell," Crowley said. "It's definitely different from a few years ago when people would put their house on the market and see what happens."