Mass. home sales tracking with sluggish 2023 pace

BOSTON (SHNS) – As state lawmakers were putting the final touches on legislation they hope will ease some of the state’s housing problems, home sales ticked up more than 8 percent in July and put 2024 sales just ahead of last year’s sluggish pace.

The Warren Group on Tuesday reported 4,427 single-family home sales in Massachusetts last month, representing an 8.2 percent increase over July 2023 sales. The median sale price of $650,000 — a new record high for the month of July — was up 6.6 percent over July 2023’s $610,000 median price. But Warren Group Associate Publisher Cassidy Norton found a slight silver lining for prospective homebuyers.

“Yes, a median sale price of $650,000 was a new all-time high for the month of July, and month after month prices are setting new records, but price gains are smaller than they could be,” she said. “Interest rates are more than double where they were two years ago, and I’m certain prices would be even higher without those changes. That does lead to a lack of inventory that may have abated price gains somewhat.”

That lack of inventory, a longstanding problem that makes it more expensive and more difficult to live in Massachusetts, “will continue to be the biggest factor driving prices for the foreseeable future,” Norton added.

Through seven months of 2024, single-family home sales are up just a hair over the same checkpoint in 2023, a year that ended with the lowest volume of sales in 12 years. The 22,879 sales so far this year represent a 0.8 percent increase over the first seven months of 2023. The year-to-date single-family home sale price is up 9.5 percent to $618,500.

The story was similar for the condominium market in July. The month’s 1,947 condo sales were up 3.2 percent over last July’s 1,886 sales. The median sale price climbed 1.8 percent over July 2023 to $565,000, also a new record for July. Year-to-date, there have been 10,901 condo sales — a 3.2 percent decrease compared to the first seven months of 2023 while the median sale price of $545,000 is up 4.8 percent over the same time.

“The median condo price also reached a new high for July, but prices were down moderately from the previous month,” Norton said. “This could be an early indicator that condo prices are starting to plateau.”

Gov. Maura Healey this month signed into law a policy-filled $5.16 billion housing bond package that lawmakers sent to her desk the morning of Aug. 1. The law authorizes $5.16 billion in bonding, far more than the state can afford to allocate for housing, and implements 49 new housing policies, though advocates said its omissions made for an “ underwhelming ” final product.

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