YOUR Massachusetts Real Estate Market Update for the week of February 12th
The irresponsibility of our elected officials is uncanny. It’s basic economics that are making us all poorer each and every day. We are going to talk about that, plus what’s going on in the condo market? Inventory levels broke out of their winter range a little early… Could this be the answer to spring buyers’ dreams?
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.
There are some interesting developments in the data for both the condo and single family market. The question becomes… Will the trends continue? If so, then it may just be a better spring market then most had expected from an inventory standpoint… Interest rates are going to suck… A lot more than expected tho. So I guess that will make up for it.
And maybe high interest rates aren’t necessarily a bad thing going into the Spring market. Maybe they will help tame some of this demand because the demand is making for some crazy scenarios. This weekend open houses were like college parties… People fighting to get through the door only to be shoulder to shoulder once you got inside. One offer situation was 11 offers and the house went for $130,000 over asking price. Another situation had 6 offers… And that was on an already $1.1 million dollar house.
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Let’s get into it all and jump into the Single-Family market stats.
Again, nothing abnormal here. We are expecting inventory to just hover along for another two weeks or so. Inventory was up slightly last week and is now down slightly this week to 2,812 Single Family homes on the market in the state of Massachusetts. We now have 4.4% less homes on the market than there were just 28 days ago.
Inventory went down this week, but not as much as it did in 2023. If this keeps up, then it looks like we could cross the 2023 inventory levels in the next week or two.
We have 101 fewer Single Family homes on the market today then we did today back in 2023 and 883 more Single Family homes on the market then the inventory levels in 2022.
And here is the story when it comes to us slowly but surely catching up to the 2023 inventory levels. We listed 660 Single Family homes this week. That is 75 more units or 12.8% more than the same week in 2023. Keep in mind that last week we listed 63 more as well. So five weeks ago it was 12% less, then four weeks ago it was 10% less. Then three weeks ago we were even with 2023. Two weeks ago we listed 13% more houses, last week was 10% more and now we are at nearly 13% more again.
This is an interesting trend that is great news for buyers. The continued new listing year over year could create a situation where we see some inventory builds.
And this is a great thing… These stats are telling us that there might be some good news coming… I just personally don’t see it. There is a LOT of buyer demand out there. I think this is going to be a crazy Spring market that seller’s are going to absolutely love.
The 4 week rolling average is 586 units. This current listing activity is strong to say the least.
So we are listing more houses than in 2023, but our under agreement data is pretty much right in line.
We had 702 homes go under agreement. This was 24 units or 3.3% less than the same week last year when 726 single family homes went under agreement.
We are back over the 700 unit level for under agreements. Maybe this is some of that demand that I am seeing in the market place actually coming through to the stats.
The four week rolling average is 626 units.
So when compared to last year’s market… New listings were up by nearly 13% while under agreements were down by 3%.
There were 294 Single Family homes that closed last week for an average sales price of $729 thousand dollars and a median sales price of $568 thousand dollars. Sales levels compared to the same week last year were down by 3.6% as there were 305 Single Family homes that sold this week last year for an average price of $671k.
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.
week Months of inventory nudged up to 1.25 months from last week’s 1.26 months. The 1.25 months this week is compared to the 1.16 months this week last year.
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Now onto the Condo market…
A couple weeks ago I was talking about how the condo market was so similar to last year… And for the last two weeks, it’s been starting to make a move! We have 1,839 condos on the market as of Monday. This is a 53 unit increase from last week’s 1786 units and is 3.8% more than the inventory levels on the market just 28 days ago.
But here is where you can really see what I am talking about. Last week we barely eclipsed 2023, but this week… Inventory really made a move.
We now have 96 more units on the market today than today last year and 400 more units then compared to the inventory levels of 2022. The 96 units is a build from the 39 unit difference from last week.
The condo market was like a repeat from last week in both New Listing and under agreements!
There were 384 condos that came on the market last week with the four week rolling average of 339 condos. To put this in perspective, the 384 this week is compared to the 386 last week!
The 384 units listed was 19 units or 5.2% more than the 365 condos that came on the market the same week in 2023.
Well under agreements finally showed us something a little different than last year! Last year there was a little surge this week. This year… Not so much.
This week we put 329 units under agreement. This 329 units was 49 units or 13% shy of last year’s numbers when we put 378 condos under agreement. Talk about a tight range. Three weeks ago we put 319 condos under agreement, then 335 two weeks ago and 326 last week. And now it’s 329 units!
The four week rolling average is 315 units.
So 5.2% more listings that came on the market when compared to this week last year while selling 13% fewer condos.
There were 129 condos that sold this week for an average sales price of $625 thousand dollars and a median sales price of $480 thousand dollars. This same week last year there were 136 condos that sold. So sales levels were down by 5%. Speaking of condos, have you seen the townhomes in Hewitts Landing Hingham MA?
Months of Inventory ticked up to 2.03 months from last week’s 1.92 months. This is compared to the months of inventory levels of 1.69 months this week last year.
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Time to talk about Interest rates… Cause you might as well start embracing the suck. It’s not going to get any better anytime soon and it could very well get a lot worse.
Ultimately, it wasn’t a bad week for interest rates. They went down, so what’s the bad news?
Again, it’s inflation. The Consumer Price Index came in hotter than expected… And here is the big issue, it’s what is called the ‘supercore’ part of the dataset that soared.
As an example of some of the Supercore inflation, Rent inflation went up 6.09% in January. Shelter up 6.04%.
3.1% year over year isn’t the end of the world. But inflation isn’t done. It’s going to continue to go up. Continued inflation means that we as Americans continue to get poorer each and every day.
And it’s all thanks to those Rich Men North of Richmond. And this is just what irritates me. This inflation is 100% being caused by the expected $1.6 Trillion budget deficit. People don’t seem to care about the deficit and it drives me up the wall… Or maybe people do, but those idiots in Washington sure don’t. The government is printing money to fund that $1.6 Trillion dollar deficit. That printing money is the inflation that we are seeing. It is the government that is making you and I poorer each day by eroding our savings.
Want some proof that it’s the government? One of the idiots that orchestrated this high inflationary run, Jerome Powel said this week that and I quote “I would say this. IN the long run, the US Federal Government is on an unsustainable fiscal path”.
You don’t have to go further than looking at this article to see it’s not the consumer.
The article states that Household debt tops $17.5 Trillion and Americans are feeling the strain.
$212 billion of that was just in the 4th quarter of 2023 alone.
The article states, “It’s clear that Americans have used credit cards to keep up with bills as price inflation ate up real earnings.”
But here is what is crazy. Aggregate savings peaked to $2.1 Trillion in August of 2021 thanks to the lockdowns and government stimulus. Americans could literally not spend their money.
As of June that aggregate savings is estimated to be $190 Billion meaning that Americans have chewed through $1.9 Trillion dollars in savings.
Like I said… We are getting poorer thanks to these disastrous fiscal policies. I spend time on this hoping that the dots will connect and that maybe enough of us will take it seriously which will make the idiots down in Washington make some tough decisions and actually do their job.
Cause tough decisions of our own are coming.
US Companies Talk Layoffs like Never Before.
In the most recent rounds company earnings calls, the article is quoted as saying that “US Companies are discussing cost control, i.e. layoffs on earnings calls at a record rate.”.
It’s all about to get a lot worse. It isn’t if an economy that is propped up by government spending will collapse. It’s when.
By the way… The crazy part about all of that. Continued high inflation means the deterioration of the dollar and higher prices… Including Real Estate. You want to hedge against a high inflation environment… Buy gold and real estate.
Because renting sucks… Ask the folks who had a 6.09% increase in their rental prices in January… Meanwhile, us folks who own our house and have a fixed mortgage saw no change.
Want to talk about your personal real estate needs? Are you curious about towns around Massachusetts? Have you heard of the Town of Weymouth Massachusetts?
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.
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Until next time.