After paying more than $50,000 in rent since 1991 and weary of the escalating costs in Boston's increasingly tight rental market, Renita Hosler made her move.

"I was tired of putting money in someone else's pockets, so I decided it was time to buy a condominium," said Hosler, 34, a public relations director who expects to move into a two-bedroom condo near Jamaica Pond this week. Renters like Hosler, along with empty-nesters, transplanted corporate executives and former residents eager to return to the city, have kept Boston's condo market humming this year.

From January to June, 1,967 condo units sold in Boston compared to 1,949 for the same period last year, according to the Multiple Listing Service, LINK and Quick Connections Listing Exchange. The spirited sales sent prices up by 29 percent compared to the same period in 1999.

Realtors say a 1 percent increase in sales may not seem extraordinary, but it comes as single-family homes sales dipped statewide by 11.5 percent.

"Here comes the condo market," said Richard Cahill, president of Jack Conway Real Estate. "Many people who have dreamt of owning a home in Boston have found the dream too expensive and are realizing that condos are a good deal."

Consider these statistics: the average rent in Boston rose 9 percent this year to $1,465, according to Boston's Department of Neighborhood Development. Want to live near the Public Garden or the Boston Common? Expect to pay $1,700. While rents were rising, the median price for a single-family home in the City of Boston reached $450,000 for the first half of 2000, according to Banker & Tradesman, a real estate and banking journal.

As rents and home prices skyrocket, Cahill said, first-time buyers and low- and moderate-income people have been priced out of Boston's single-family market. As a result, buyers are giving condos a second look. "And I'm not talking about the $1 million homes in Back Bay, Beacon Hill and the waterfront," Cahill said. "I'm talking Dorchester, East Boston and West Roxbury, where you can still buy yourself a nice condo for under $170,000."

Of the 235 condominiums listed on the Multiple Listing Service last week, 108 units were priced from $50,000 to $230,000 with 15 listings under $100,000. There's a one-bedroom on Webster Street in East Boston for $68,500, a two-bedroom on Blue Hill Avenue in Dorchester for $105,000 and a one-bedroom on Commonwealth Avenue in Brighton for $99,900.

The multimillion-dollar properties on Boston's Wharf and the Back Bay garner media attention, say realtors, but those are not typical sales. Driving this market are average income earners who purchase condos in the $50,000 to $400,000 range, they said. A typical buyer these days is a single person who, like Hosler, works in the city and wants a Boston address at an affordable price, agents said.

Diane Keliher, a Boston realtor who sells in Back Bay and Beacon Hill, said another strong market stems from the high-tech and dot-com executives transferred here who are looking for scarce properties in the $500,000 range.

William Wheaton, director of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Center for Real Estate, said rising prices are due to the lack of housing construction.

"In the mid '80s, we were building 10,000 single-family units and 9,000 multifamily units annually in Greater Boston," he said. "In the last few years, we're building 15,000 single-family units and hardly any multifamilies."

The shortage is in part responsible for the spike in prices. In June of 1999, the median price for a Boston condominium was $235,000. A year later, the median price jumped to $298,000 - nearly a 27 percent increase, according to Banker & Tradesman.

Edward Shanahan, chief executive officer of the Greater Boston Real Estate Board, said the city's permitting process, union work rules and the Boston Condominium Ordinance have chilled condo development.

"The maze of regulations, the cost of union labor and the conversion law that gives tenants as many as five years to move, have cooled development," Shanahan said. "To his credit, the mayor [Thomas M. Menino] has said, `Bring us condo projects and we'll get them through.' But he's talking about megaprojects like Millennium and Trinity Place, not smaller projects that could help solve the housing crunch."

Last year, Menino, Boston City Council members and housing activists pushed for additional condo conversion regulations to protect residents in more than 20,000 units from immediate evictions. These safeguards include a one-year eviction notice for condominium/cooperative conversions or five years if the tenant is disabled, elderly or low to moderate income.

Since January, 561 condominium conversions have taken place, according to Boston's Rental Housing Resource Center. In contrast, the 1980s saw thousands of conversions annually, a city spokesman said.

Eric Belsky, executive director of Harvard's Joint Center for Housing Studies, said the hot condo market is a reflection of the tightness in the rental market.

"If you're forced to pay $1,800 for an apartment in Boston, a condo may not be your first choice, but what other alternative do you have?" he said. "After looking at this rental market, condos look like a slightly better deal."

Asked whether an end to escalating sales and prices is in sight, MIT's Wheaton said that depends on the strength of the economy.

"There are no warning signs," he said. "The nation's economy is on a beautiful glide path and the local economy is steaming along nicely."

Still, Rachael Chioino, a regional economist at Lexington-based Standard & Poor's DRI, said that while consumer confidence is strong, it could shift rapidly. And when it does, she said, "It can fall like a rock.

Published: August 27 2000