YOUR Massachusetts Real Estate Market Update for the week of January 16th
The long holiday came a little early this year… Which means there was a little slowdown in activity. It’s going to look worse, then it really was… So be ready!
In this video we will go over the Single-Family and condo markets in the state of Massachusetts. And we will also do a quick interest rate update… And we will also talk about some relevant current events.
You know how I was talking about it being a slower weekend and all… It might have been slow, but one of my buyers won out in a 5 multiple offer situation while one of my listings which has spent 105 days on the market just got an offer…
It’s slower because of the holiday. But it isn’t slow for this time of the year.
I said it last week that there is a huge opportunity for would be Spring buyers to get out in front of the Spring market. I am looking forward to sharing a Yahoo Finance article with you in a couple moments…
Hi I am Jeff Chubb – A recovering Investment Banker turned Real Estate Agent that has sold more than a 1,000 homes. If you have any questions about the real estate market, then know I am here to help.
Also, as a quick heads up, I am looking to buy houses. Let me know if there are any houses that you are aware of that need a lot of Tender Love and Care. The uglier, then the better!
Let’s get into it all and jump into the Single-Family market stats.
There are now 2,940 single family homes on the market in the state of Massachusetts. That is down a whopping 29 units from last week and is a 15% decrease in the amount of homes for buyers to look at in just a matter of 28 days.
Continue to be used to these inventory levels until towards the end of February.
Halfway through January and we are 399 units less than the inventory levels in 2023 and 861 more Single Family homes on the market then the inventory levels in 2022.
We look to be hanging around the 2021 inventory level mark.
The takeaway… Inventory levels are low and are going to remain low this year.
New listing activity came in short of other recent years.
There were 493 Single Family homes that came on the market this week. This was 56 or 10.2% less units than the same week last year when 549 Single Family homes came on the market. Last week was 12% less and this week was 10%. Let’s keep an eye if that becomes a trend.
The 4 week rolling average is 325 units. But that data includes the slow last two Christmas and Christmas to New Year weeks when 220 and 133 new listings came on the market.
Under agreements slipped off of last year’s pace as well.
We had 538 homes go under agreement last week which was 11.5% or 70 fewer units than the same week last year when 608 single family homes went under agreement.
The four week rolling average is 444 units. This is going to really start ramping up in the coming weeks.
So when compared to last year’s market… New listings were down by 10.2% while under agreements were down by 11.5%.
There were 394 Single Family homes that closed last week for an average sales price of $760 thousand dollars and a median sales price of $586 thousand dollars. Sales levels compared to the same week last year were down by 2.5% as there were 404 Single Family homes that sold this week last year for an average price of $640k.
Months of inventory. This is how we determine what type of market we are in. 0 to 5 months is considered a sellers’ market with the closer to 0 you get… The more aggressive a seller’s market.
This week Months of inventory ticked up to 1.20 months from last week’s 1.17 months. The 1.20 months this week is compared to the 1.13 months this week last year.
Real quick, my shameless plug… I just wanted to mention that if you are thinking about buying or selling a home, then it would be a true pleasure to help!
Now onto the Condo market…
We have 1,772 condos on the market as of Monday. This is a whopping 1 unit increase from last week. Currently, there are 10.6% fewer condos on the market today than 28 days ago.
We are really going toe to toe with the inventory levels of 2023!
We now have only 32 fewer units on the market today than in 2023 and 313 more units then compared to the inventory levels of 2022.
Just like in the Single Family market… Inventory in the condo market is extremely low and is going to stay that way.
New Listing activity really fell off a cliff when comparing it to last week when 400 new condos came on the market!
But year over year wasn’t that bad. There were 318 condos that came on the market last week with the four week rolling average of 184 condos. I am thinking the 64 units that went under agreement during the Christmas week and the 99 units that went under agreement between Christmas and New Years is really throwing off that stat!
The 368 units listed was 18 units or 6% more than the 300 condos that came on the market the same week in 2023.
And the condo under agreements put up a good fight against 2023, but just couldn’t get over the line to get the job done!
This week we put 281 units under agreement. This 281 units was 7 units or 2.4% shy of last year’s numbers when we put 288 condos under agreement. This was an enormous improvement from last week’s 30.5% year over year decrease!
The four week rolling average is 207 units.
So 6% more listings that came on the market when compared to this week last year while selling 2.4% fewer condos.
There were 148 condos that sold this week for an average sales price of $664 thousand dollars and a median sales price of $489 thousand dollars. This same week last year there were 157 condos that sold. So sales levels were down by 5.7%.
Months of Inventory had a sizable move to 1.76 months from last week’s 1.69 months. This is compared to the months of inventory levels of 1.6 months this week last year.
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Time to talk about Interest rates… Because it’s been awhile!
It was a good week in the sense that rates didn’t go up! We saw a little improvement for interest rates this week. And this is good news because they had slowly been climbing in the last couple weeks.
The CPI data came in this week and it was higher than expected. But everything I am hearing is in regards to the FED cutting rates in March.
I kind of think it’s important to note that the number would be a lot higher if it wasn’t for the 2% decrease in the cost of energy. That number is essentially .4% when you factor out energy costs.
I mentioned it in my predictions video. The FED painted themselves into a tough spot. They are in an election year and will be getting a lot of pressure to cut rates by the current administration. But at the same time, the data is not showing that inflation has been stamped out of the economy.
My thoughts are that they will succumb to lower rates to ensure we don’t go into a recession. And this will keep the inflation flame burning…
On that note, be sure to check out my 2024 predictions video that I released last weekend. And be on the lookout for my video that goes over the best and worst performing neighborhoods in Boston for 2023.
And here is the Yahoo Finance article that I was talking about earlier. It’s not just me seeing the pickup in the market that is in this market. It’s all over the country.
Man… Just the title gives me heart complications. “Bidding wars erupt as 2024 kicks off, with some listings seeing over 30 offers.”
And then they talk more about what we have been saying… “Improved mortgage rates means buyers are coming back – and that means competition.”
Mortgage applications are up 9.9% with 6% of that bump being from purchases.
And the article even says and I quote: “For rate-sensitive buyers who have been waiting on the sidelines, these first few weeks of the year could offer a window to purchase.”
And this is actually something I mention in my Predictions video. The article says “Though competition has seemingly begun to pick up in some segments of the U.S. Mortgage rates could destabilize that momentum.
And for the record, I wrote all of this out before I even found this article… But the article then says that “Both inflation and unemployment readings came in higher than expected in December – indicating that the Federal Reserve may hold off on cutting interest rates.”
I have been saying it, but will reiterate it. There is going to be a first to market advantage this Spring. If you are a buyer looking to buy a Quincy houses for sale in the Spring, then push up that timeline a bit.
Want to talk about your personal real estate needs?
Again, it’s Jeff Chubb. Whether you are looking to buy or sell a home in the next 9 or 90 days, then I would love to chat with you and find out about your real estate goals.
And if you know of anyone that is thinking about buying or selling a house, then I truly appreciate you passing along my information.
You can visit YouTubeRealEstateAgent.com or find all of my information in the description below!
Until next time.