How Much Below Asking Should You Offer on a Boston Condo?

How much below asking price should you offer on a Boston condo in 2026?

Most Boston-area condos that have sat on the market for 30 days or more are landing offers 3–7% below asking, and sellers are increasingly willing to negotiate. Anything past 10% below asking risks reading as a lowball and can shut the conversation down before it starts. The right number for your offer depends on days on market, how many price cuts the listing has already taken, and what comparable units nearby have actually closed for — not the list price.

By Tyler Smith | Beacon & Bond Group | Augu, 2026

Boston's housing market isn't one market right now. It's two.

If you're shopping single-family homes in Newton or Brookline, you already know the story: tight inventory, record prices, and offers that still need to be sharp to win. But if you're looking at condos — especially in Boston, Brookline, or the older condo stock scattered through Newton — you're in a completely different negotiation. Inventory is up, days on market are climbing, and a growing share of sellers are ready to talk price.

The question I hear constantly right now isn't "how do I win a bidding war." It's "how low can I actually go without insulting the seller." Here's how to think about that number.

Boston's Housing Market Split in Two

Single-family inventory across Newton and Brookline remains genuinely choked. Newton single-family homes are averaging around $2.2 million this year, and Brookline single-family sales have pushed past $3.1 million on average — both up meaningfully year over year. That side of the market hasn't slowed down.

Condos are a different animal entirely. Active condo listings across Boston are up roughly 7–15% year over year, the highest volume the city has seen since 2019–2020. That extra supply has shifted leverage toward buyers in a way it hasn't in years:

• Median days on market for Boston condos has climbed to around 30–32 days, up more than a third from the prior year.
• Close to 30% of active condo listings have taken at least one price reduction.
• The typical condo is selling for roughly 97–98% of its final list price — after that list price has often already been cut once.

The softness isn't even across the board. Historic Back Bay and Beacon Hill brownstones priced at $2 million and up are the softest segment in the city right now, with some sitting well past 200 days and closing 5% or more under asking. Larger $2–3 million units in the Financial District, Seaport, and Midtown are facing a genuine oversupply problem. Meanwhile, well-priced units in tighter neighborhoods like Jamaica Plain are still moving quickly — so where you're looking matters as much as what's listed.

What Your Offer Should Actually Look Like

Here's the honest breakdown of what different offer levels signal in this market:

• 1–2% below asking is close to the market average right now — a reasonable opening number on a condo that's been listed less than three weeks.
• 3–7% below asking is where most negotiated deals are landing on units sitting 30 days or longer, particularly if the listing has already taken a price cut.
• 7–10% below asking starts to cross into lowball territory. It can work on a stale listing — 60, 90, or more days on market — but expect the seller to counter rather than accept outright.
• 10%+ below asking is a real risk. It's common enough not to be shocking, but it can end negotiations before they start if you haven't backed it up with comps.

Days on market is your single best signal. Once a listing crosses 60 days, sellers tend to get noticeably less rigid — the psychology shifts from "I'll wait for my number" to "I'd like this to be over." A unit sitting at 90+ days with no offers is a very different conversation than one that just hit day 15.

The other half of the equation is comparable sales, not comparable listings. What a similar unit in the same building, or the same block, actually closed for in the last 60 to 90 days tells you far more than the seller's asking price does. If recent comps in a Back Bay building are closing 5% under list, that's your anchor — not the number on the listing.

Before you land on a figure, it's worth confirming where the unit stands with financing, too. Older buildings across Boston, Brookline, and Newton are increasingly running into the stricter condo review rules that took effect for conventional loans this year — worth checking before you get attached to a number, since a non-warrantable building can change your financing math entirely.

Price Isn't the Only Thing on the Table

If a seller won't move much on price, that doesn't mean the negotiation is over. It often just means the conversation moves somewhere else:

• Closing cost credits — increasingly common and easy for sellers to say yes to without touching the sale price on paper.
• Condo fee coverage for a set period after closing, which softens the ongoing cost of ownership without a headline price cut.
• Seller-paid rate buydowns, where the seller funds a temporary reduction in your mortgage rate — often more valuable to your monthly payment than an equivalent price reduction would be.
• Repair credits after inspection. Since Massachusetts banned inspection waivers as a condition of an accepted offer, buyers have real leverage here that didn't exist a couple of years ago.

A seller who's firm on their number for pride or comp reasons will often move fast on these instead. If you're structuring an offer on a unit that's been sitting, it's worth deciding in advance which lever matters more to you — sale price or monthly cost — because you often can't maximize both. It also helps to know how much cash you'll actually need to bring to the table before you decide which concessions to prioritize.

One more thing worth knowing before you write the offer: if the appraisal comes in below your negotiated price, Massachusetts contracts don't automatically protect you the way some other states' do. Working through your options there before you're mid-negotiation puts you in a much stronger position than figuring it out under deadline pressure.

Every building and every block moves differently, though, and the number that works on a Financial District high-rise isn't the number that works on a walk-up in the South End. That's where it helps to have someone who's tracking actual closed comps in the specific building or block you're looking at — not just the neighborhood average.

If You're the One Selling a Condo Right Now

This same shift matters just as much if you're on the other side of it.

If your condo has been sitting for a few weeks without much traffic, a below-asking offer landing in your inbox isn't a sign you priced it wrong — it's what a normal offer looks like in this market right now. Roughly 30% of your competition has already cut price once. An offer that's 3–5% under your ask, from a buyer who's done their homework, is often the strongest number you're going to see without waiting another month.

A few things worth knowing before you counter:

• Don't anchor to your original list price. If you've already taken one reduction, buyers are pricing off the new number, not the old one. Countering hard back toward the original price usually just resets the standoff.
• Ask what the buyer actually needs. Sometimes a buyer who seems firm on price will move considerably if you offer a closing cost credit or a few months of condo fees instead. It can cost you less than a straight price cut while still getting the buyer to yes.
• Weigh a lower cash price against a longer runway. A slightly lower offer from a buyer who's already pre-approved and ready to close in 30 days is often worth more than a higher offer from someone still shopping lenders.

The building and the segment matter here too — a Back Bay brownstone competing against a wave of similar listings is a very different conversation than a well-priced unit in a tighter pocket of Jamaica Plain or the South End. Knowing which one you're in changes how hard to hold your line.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is offering $50,000 below asking on a Boston condo a lowball?

It depends entirely on the price point and the listing's history. On a $650,000 condo, $50,000 is roughly 7.7% below asking — reasonable on a unit that's sat 30+ days, aggressive on one that just listed. On a $1.5 million unit, the same dollar amount is barely 3% and is well within normal negotiating range.

How long does a condo need to sit before sellers in Boston will negotiate?

There's no hard rule, but the shift is noticeable around the 60-day mark, when close to half of active Boston listings have already crossed that threshold. Sellers who haven't had an offer by day 60 tend to be considerably more open to price or concession conversations than they were on day 15.

Do Newton and Brookline condo sellers negotiate the same way as Boston condo sellers?

Generally, yes, though inventory levels vary by building and price point. Brookline's condo stock has been affected by the same inventory increase as Boston, while Newton's smaller condo market can behave differently building to building — it's worth checking recent closed comps rather than assuming the citywide trend applies exactly.

Can I ask for a rate buydown instead of a price reduction in Massachusetts?

Yes, and it's an increasingly common ask. A seller-funded 2-1 buydown or similar structure can lower your monthly payment more meaningfully than an equivalent price cut would, and many sellers who won't move on the sale price are still willing to fund one.

What counts as a reasonable opening offer on a Boston condo right now?

For a freshly listed unit, 1–3% below asking is a normal, non-confrontational opening number. For a unit that's been sitting 60 days or more with a prior price cut already, opening 5–8% below asking is defensible if you can point to recent comparable sales that support it.

If you're weighing an offer on a specific condo right now, the number that makes sense depends on that building's recent closed sales, how long it's actually been sitting, and what else is competing for the seller's attention. That's not something a listing description can tell you. I'm happy to pull the real comps and walk through the numbers with you before you write the offer.

About Tyler Smith | Beacon & Bond Group
Tyler Smith is the founder of Beacon & Bond Group and a licensed REALTOR® with Real Broker MA, LLC, specializing in Boston, Brookline, Newton, Needham, Dedham, and Milton. Since 2020, he has represented more than 90 clients across $85 million in transactions — with hands-on experience as both a listing agent and a real estate investor. Connect with Tyler at tyler@beaconandbondgroup.com.