Wealthy baby boomers looking to downsize, relocate to cultural centers, or acquire low-maintenance second homes are snapping up high-priced condos in cities and resorts. Many young couples are making condos, rather than single-family homes, their first real estate purchases. And low interest rates have pushed young singles to buy apartments instead of rent them.

Going Mondo Condo

More than 47,000 new condominiums, in 322 separate projects, are coming onto the market in the next three years, according to real estate information firm Delta Associates. Many of those buildings promise to create new kinds of neighborhoods in areas that were not previously known as residential communities. At the end of September, there were 18,872 new condominium units for sale in the region, many that introduce new choices to long-established places, up from only 3,083 in the same month two years earlier.

What Is Fueling High Condo Prices?

As condominium prices reach never-before-seen heights, a debate is brewing over whether a fundamental demographic shift is driving the trend or whether this is simply the latest speculative bubble in a corner of the real-estate market that has seen plenty of them.