Brookline real estate prices still holding up, bucking trend

Published by YourTown Brookline

Brookline--If there is one thing Vladimir Jovanovic appreciates most about Brookline, it’s the town’s European feel. It reminds him of his native Serbia.

A year ago, when he and his wife were expecting their first child, Jovanovic moved
from Allston to Brookline, swayed by the town’s appearance, as well as its reputation for strong schools and safety.

Jovanovic, who had lived in Allston for more than three years, is just one of the many people investing in Brookline real estate. In Brookline, counter to a statewide trend, home sales and median prices rose in the last year, and realtors say the market is healthy. The town, along with several others in the state, is bucking the slump that the Bay State has been trying to recover from since home values peaked in 2005.

An unemployment rate lower than the national average, a prime location, a prestigious public school system, and access to urban transportation, make Brookline appealing to home seekers, experts and new residents say.

“It (Brookline) has superstar qualities for a town, things that aren’t too susceptible to the fluctuation of the general economy,” said Shira Steinberg, real estate consultant for Keller Williams Realty. “[It] has more stability because of its built in excellent attributes.”

Statistics conducted by The Warren Group, a company that tracks real estate, show that the median sales price of single-family properties in Brookline went up to $1.2 million a 6.73 per cent growth in the first ten months of 2011 compared to the same period in 2010. In contrast, the state as a whole experienced a decrease of 1.68 per cent from $298,000 to $293,000.

Steinberg said that even though Brookline prices are not at their peak, they are on a healthy trend. Chobee Hoy, owner of Chobee Hoy Associates Real Estate, agreed. “Numbers have increased, certainly not in the same way the have in other years, but it’s a much more stable real estate market in Brookline than in other communities,” she said.

Although Brookline offers more condos than single-family homes compared to Newton, experts find them very similar in terms of real estate. Saul Cohen, president of Hammond Residential Real Estate, said the Brookline market is 80 percent condos and 20 percent houses; Newton is considered to be the other way around. Still, Brookline’s median sales prices for a single-family home, a category in which Newton has the advantage, were up four percent more than that of Newton.

Statistics from The Warren Group also show that this year, single-family home sales in Brookline grew by 8.66 per cent from 127 in the first ten months of 2010 to 138 in the same period in 2011, even though the state had a decrease of 8.86 per cent

Brookline draws families for many reasons, including town’s convenience to the city and its own abundance of amenities.

“It’s the best of both worlds,” said Paul Epstein, a Brookline resident and brother of the former Red Sox general manager, Theo Epstein. “[It’s] right in a major urban center but you also have incredible resources that are usually associated with more suburban centers like great schools to attend or work in, great people.”

Like Epstein, many people choose Brookline for its school system. “Brookline has excellent schools. Boston is not considered competitive with Brookline (in terms of public schools),” said Steinberg. “Most people who can afford expensive housing are more likely to send their children to a private school in Boston and in Brookline they’ll go to public schools.”

Others move to Brookline to escape the fast pace of the city. “It’s a quiet area, but [still] close to practically everything,” said Nadim El-Fata, a homebuyer and potential Brookline resident.

Timothy Warren Jr., CEO of The Warren Group, agreed that location is an important factor. “The access to medical institutions, hospitals, research facilities, etc. make it (Brookline) somewhat recessive proof,” he said.

Michael Goodman, professor of public policy at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth, echoed Warren’s assessment of the Brookline real estate market’s ability to survive a recession. “Brookline is a major exception… the unemployment rate is very low, the income levels of the people who live in the town are very high [and] the amenities that the town provides to home owners… have made the town relatively immune,” he said.

Another variable is relative affordability, said Stacie Yellin, a real estate agent who has been in the business since 2004. Even though prices are on the rise, the median sales price of a single-family home is still $750,000.

In the near future, experts expect prices to rise slowly. “If interest rates stay low and the economy improves… you’ll start to see some stability,” said Goodman.

For places like Brookline, where the market is already healthy, this means prices will continue rising. “Most economists seem to think that the healthy markets will go up maybe four percent every year on average,” said Steinberg.

But at some point, could home prices cause Brookline to lose its appeal? Greg Vasil, CEO of the Greater Boston Association of Realtors, doubts that. “Brookline is a desirable place to live,” he said. “If some people get priced out of Brookline, there will always be others coming in.”