Cambridge prices defy market downturn
Is Cambridge truly immune?
After all, as the rest of the real estate market heads south, things don't appear to have changed all that much in Cambridge since the days of the housing bubble.
It is enough to make Cambridge an object of envy nationally - The Wall Street Journal cites the country's academic capital as one of a handful of markets that are still near their bubble year peaks.
Cambridge prices are about what they were in 2004, hardly a down year, and 8.6 percent off their peak, the Journal notes. The median single family sale price in Cambridge was up to $730,000 year-to-date through April, compared to $600,000 during the same period last year, according to The Warren Group.
Zillow's home index, which includes assessed values of properties not on the market, pegs the average home value in Cambridge at $423,900, down .6 percent year-over-year.
The piece cites the obvious - Cambridge is home to MIT and Harvard and a relatively thriving jobs market. Yet the impact of Cambridge's booming economy on home values can't be overstated, with the city benefiting from breakneck growth in a trio of key sectors - life sciences, technology and higher education.
Office and lab vacancy rates are hovering in the 13 percent range - well below that of either 128 or 495 corridors, where the amount of empty corporate suites ranges from 20 to 30 percent of the market.
That means a steady supply of well-paid house and condo hunters, all looking in a relatively small market and eager to stay as close to their jobs as possible.
Nothing ever stays the same, but it's hard to imagine the technology and life sciences sectors collapsing and Harvard declaring bankruptcy. Because that's probably the only way you are going to see serious deflation in Cambridge home and condo prices.
