Home prices down, but in tony towns, no deals
Affluent suburbs like Wellesley, Weston and Lincoln have all seen sale prices drop off in the past few years.
But for young couples and families with dreams of breaking into these communities, drawn by their top performing schools and classic New England looks, it may actually be harder than ever.
That's what I found after hitting some open houses and talking to buyers on the hunt for deals in these towns - check out my story that ran Thursday in Globe West.
For Adam and Kelly, the choice boiled down to a home in Lincoln approaching the $600,000 mark not far from Rt. 2 with a similarly sized Cape in Weston within earshot of the commuter rail priced at more than $700,000.
One factor here is inventory. Homes priced a third below the still lofty medians in these towns are rare finds.
Let's just take Lincoln, where the median price is hovering around $950,000, according to the Warren Group. Take a third off that price - down to $635,000 - and you get just four homes below and 30 above. (Apologies, this snapshot was taken back in mid-November, so it may have shifted slightly since.)
The same was true for other towns like Wellesley and Weston. Take a third off the Wellesley median - down to $616,000 - and you get 151 above and 16 below. In Weston, where a 33 percent discount brings you down to $725,000, there were 92 above and 11 below.
Wellesley can be particularly tricky. That $400,000 Colonial that sounds too good to be
true probably is - it is more than likely sitting on Rt. 9.
What's to blame? Certainly these towns have always been difficult to buy in, with recent drops in median prices creating the illusion of greater affordability.
But here may be another example of how the home buyer tax credit helped distort the market, not just in these towns, but across Greater Boston.
If it did anything, the tax credit put a dent in the number of lower priced homes, historically difficult to replace in what is still one of the nation's priciest housing markets.
