Housing Market Remains Strong – Year End Market Update

At Hawthorn Real Estate, we have seen a steady rise of activity since the beginning of the year.  A recent report from the Warren Group confirmed the growth in the overall housing market.  According to records for October sales, single-family homes in Massachusetts rose nearly 19% based on a year-to-year comparison of 4,326 single-family homes that were sold in Massachusetts during the month of September.

Not only did the number of sales rise; housing prices have climbed as well. The median price of a single-family home in October came in at $313,050 which happens to be the highest median price for October since 2007.

Looking at these statistics, one might think that with increases like these, the housing market is pretty much in recovery—not entirely.  While buyers and prices might be flying high, sellers are not jumping on the band wagon entirely.  Perhaps this could be due to such a rapid increase in sales?  Some Economists worry that this trend is not entirely balanced and therefore could lead to some wariness.

In a statement from Kimberly Allard-Moccia, Association President for the Massachusetts Association of Realtors, she says: “The buyer activity, despite the relatively few homes for sale, really picked up in the spring and remained high into the fall.  If sellers continue to sit this market out and inventory continues to shrink, we are going to see fewer qualified buyers able to keep up with the increasing prices.  Full recovery is close, but now it is up to the sellers to make it happen.”

Increasing homes prices is being seen all over the state and Needham is certainly no exception.  Hawthorn Real Estate has noticed that with rising prices, there are less and less starter homes available for sale.  Currently, there are 44 homes on the market in Needham , with only 12 of them being listed for under a million dollars.  Breaking it down even further, only two of those 12 are listed in the $500,000- $600,000 range.  In fact, the average listing price is now nearly $1.7 million dollars!

Additional information on the Needham housing market can be seen below in a slide from our local cable access show, “What’s My House Worth?”  For those of you interested in local real estate, please check the Needham Community Cable Channel schedule online or visit our website to view all episodes to-date.

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