So you started thinking about selling your Boston area real estate, and you figure: Let’s wait until the spring or early summer before listing. The yard will look its best and potential buyers will be out in force. And everybody knows that winter is dead time for Boston area real estate. Right?

Well, that’s the widely held belief. But national statistical studies suggest it’s not necessarily the case.

Advantages of Buying Boston Area Real Estate During Winter

Winter — officially Dec. 21 through March 20 for the current season — can be a surprisingly advantageous time to list, shop, negotiate and buy Boston area real estate. Consider some findings by researchers at Redfin, the online realty brokerage.

Redfin studied home listing, sales price and time-on-market data from 2010 through this past October from around the country, updating a two-year analysis it completed last year. It concluded that if you want to sell for more than your asking price, listing in December, January, February and March gives you a better chance, on average, than if you list any time after June through November.

During the past three years, listing during these four months has produced higher percentages of above-asking price sales than any months other than April and May. In 2012, at the inception of the housing rebound, December listings produced the highest percentage of above-asking sales for the entire year: 17 percent.

Researchers are quick to note that the advantages of listing their Boston area real estate in winter compared with other seasons are not huge. But the fact that winter produces at least competitive or better results by some measures should encourage some potential sellers to get into the game sooner rather than later.

For potential buyers of Boston area real estate, the winter season may find some sellers more flexible about negotiations over prices and terms than they would during the middle of the spring.

In its two-year study completed last December, researchers found that sellers of Boston area real estate were better off listing their homes in the winter than during any other season.

Bottom line: Boston area real estate does not hibernate from December through March. More than 5 million homes typically are resold annually in the United States, and many of them are listed and sold during the winter months. In strong local housing markets such as Boston area , the likelihood of selling your home within 180 days is higher when you list during the winter months compared with any other season, according to Redfin’s 2013 study.

With the forecast of higher mortgage rates on the horizon, there may never be a more affordable time to buy Boston area real estate than right now. Talk to us about rates, and where prices are for Boston area real estate. We’re here to help you in any way that we can.

We have more articles about buying and selling Boston area real estate in the sections on Boston Home Buying Tips and Boston Home Selling Tips under our Boston Real Estate Categories to your right.

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First-time Boston area homebuyers now account for only one-third of all home purchases, the lowest share since 1987.

That’s according to an annual survey conducted by the National Association of Realtors, which questioned a random sample of people who purchased homes between July 2013 and June 2014.

Reasons First Time Boston Area Homebuyers Are Vanishing

Of the many reasons first time Boston area homebuyers seem to be disappearing, rising rents and repaying student loan debt makes saving for a down payment more difficult, especially for young adults who’ve experienced limited job prospects and flat wage growth since entering the work force. Adding even more trouble for would-be first time Boston area homebuyers, those finally in a position to buy have had to overcome low inventory levels in their price range, competition from investors, tight credit conditions and high mortgage insurance premiums.

Wages should go up as the job market continues to improve, but first time Boston area homebuyers report that getting a mortgage is a lot harder than they expected.

NAR Chief Economist Lawrence Yun said in a statement recently, “Less stringent credit standards and mortgage insurance premiums commensurate with current buyer risk profiles are needed to boost first-time buyer participation, especially with interest rates likely rising in upcoming years.”

The median age of first time homebuyers nationwide was 31, and their median income was $68,300. Their typical purchase: a 1,570-square foot home costing $169,000, something that is increasingly more difficult to find in the Boston area real estate market.

The typical repeat buyer, by contrast, was 53, with an income of $95,000. Repeat buyers bought bigger and more expensive homes.

Home sellers, meanwhile, are getting older: 54 on average now vs. 46 back in 2009. The typical seller has been in his or her house for 10 years — a new high.

If the share of first time Boston area homebuyers continues to shrink, many homeowners who would like to move up to a more expensive house may find it harder to sell their current home.

To stay abreast of news that affects the Boston area real estate market, bookmark our site and check back often. we also post tips and news daily at Twitter and Facebook.  Be sure to follow us there.

The confidence level towards Boston area real estate is on the rise according to the latest Zillow Housing Confidence Index. Homebuyers generally feel more positive about the Boston area real estate market now compared to the beginning of the year. The index was 63.7 in January, but increased to 64.2 during the summer.

The Housing Confidence Index is measured on a scale of 0 to 100, and readings above 50 show a positive market sentiment. Sub-sectors within the index look at buying and selling conditions, predicted changes in home values, market trends, home affordability, home buying plans and attitudes towards home ownership. Residents in the areas surveyed reported increased overall confidence in the Boston area real estate market.

Younger Renters See Themselves Buying Boston Area Real Estate

Younger renters were most optimistic about their future home buying prospects, and some 82% of those aged between 18 and 34 were pretty confident they would be able to buy their own Boston area real estate someday. In comparison 64% of those aged 34 to 49 felt this way, and just 48% of those aged 50 to 64 thought they’d be able to buy their own Boston area home.

The younger generation also have a much more optimistic view about the Boston area real estate market in general, and a 33% expected property values to rise more than 6% annually over the next 10 years compared to just 21% of middle-aged respondents, and 15% of those falling into the older age group.

Although strong aspirations are no substitute for financial capacity or credit worthiness on a mortgage loan application, feedback from millennial renters is significant because it confirms that they bear relatively few psychological scars from the housing bust, and because the attitudes of this generation will drive housing trends in the decades to come.

Experts point out we need this generation to feel confident about home ownership, and we should want them to buy regardless of the fact that they may initially struggle to purchase a home.

Follow news on the Boston area real estate market and the housing industry overall by periodically checking back in the Boston Real Estate News section of our website under Boston Real Estate Categories.

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According to the Greater Boston Association of Realtors, Boston area real estate sales dropped 10.4 percent in August when comparing to August 2013. There were 1,280 homes sold in our local housing market last month. In August 2013 that number was 1,429.

On the other hand, home prices are still on the rise. The median sales price in the Greater Boston area for a single-family home in August was $539,000, which is up from $520,000 for homes sold during the same time last year.

As far as condos are concerned, Boston area real estate sales were off 16.3 percent in August 2014 compared with August 2013. Similar to houses, prices of condominiums are also on the rise. This year a buyer had to be prepared to pay at least $429,966 for an average property, which is a 3.4 percent increase from $416,000 last year.

Boston Area Real Estate Sales and Their Impact

The slowdown in Boston area real estate sales has a great impact on the rest of the local economy. Home sellers start to realize that the Boston area housing market may not be a seller’s market anymore. The average Boston area home sold in August 2014 was on the market 55 days compared with 48 days for homes sold in August 2013.

In August 2014, the average condo sold in our local real estate market waited for a buyer for 50 days. Whereas, last year condominiums sold in 40 days on average.

Even though Boston area real estate sales are slowing down, high prices are still a hurdle for an average family.

For more Boston area home sales news, check out our Boston area Real Estate News section of articles under Boston Real Estate Categories to your right.

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Great news for our local market! Boston area real estate for sale has seen an increase in both sales and prices.

Prices Up for Boston Area Real Estate For Sale

Home prices in our local market increased by 7 percent on a year-over-year basis in June. The price increase exceeded the national average of 6.2 percent for the 12-month period that ended June 30. However, Boston area real estate for sale still lags behind some large housing markets in regard to price appreciation, such as Las Vegas (up 15.2 percent) or Miami (11.5 percent).

The Case-Shiller index monitors existing home sales in major metropolitan areas and measures the price changes in a given market. It uses the year 2000 as the base for it’s calculations. According to the latest S&P/Case-Shiller report, the Boston area hit 176.28 reading in June, which translates into a 76.28 percent price increase for the average home since 2000. This is the highest reading for the Boston area since 175.72 score recorded in October 2006.

Pending Homes Sales Up

The number of pending home sales in the Boston area real estate market increased comparing to the same time last year. There were 5,339 homes which went under contract in July this year as opposed to last year’s numbers with 4,554 homes under contract.

The Boston area condo market is also doing well with an increase of pending sales comparing to a year ago. The number of condos put under agreement last month increased 9.9 percent to 2,046 units, up from 1,862 in 2013. The number of condos put under agreement last month increased 9.9 percent to 2,046 units, up from 1,862 in 2013.

For more updates on Boston area real estate for sale, visit our Boston Real Estate section of articles under our Boston Real Estate Categories to the right.

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