YOUR Massachusetts Real Estate Market Update for the week of January 29th
Well that sucks… If you are a buyer that is. Single Family inventory just took a nosedive this week with a SURGE of properties going under agreements. And then there is the condo market which just feels like it is chugging along at last year’s pace.
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.
Last week I was talking about how the market felt like stronger demand was here, but it just had not played out through the stats… Yet… Well it looked like the market got the message.
At this point I feel like I am begging… But if you are a potential buyer this Spring, PLEASE start your search a little earlier. It could save you tens of thousands of dollars as this market begins to heat up and kicks into crazy town gear.
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. Friend. Family member. A random house that you drove by that was in shambles… The uglier, then the better! If you know of one, then reach out or visit CashOfferMA.com.
Let’s get into it all and jump into the Single-Family market stats.
And… We’re down. Inventory is down to 2,822 Single Family homes on the market in the state of Massachusetts. It’s down 178 units from last week which is now 2.3% less than the amount of homes for buyers to look at in just a matter of 28 days.
Last week I was worried that the Single Family inventory levels were going to make me look bad and shoot beyond the 3,000 unit range… The data makes a lot more sense this week. Inventory levels are going to continue to suck for home buyers. They are going to suck this winter. They are going to suck this Spring and they are going to suck this Summer. What about the Fall market you ask… That’s a little too far out…
There is a better view of the nosedive! Last week is what we traditionally see this time of the year. We should see inventory levels pull back a little more then level off until about the end of February.
This is when we start to see more inventory come on the market… But also start to see a LOT more buyer demand.
We have 247 fewer Single Family homes on the market today then we did today back in 2023 and 884 more Single Family homes on the market then the inventory levels in 2022.
We listed 571 Single Family homes this week. That is 66 more units or 13.1% more than the same week in 2023. So three weeks ago it was 12% less, than 2 weeks ago it was 10% less. Then last week we were even with 2024 and now we have gone to listing over 13% more houses.
The market seems to be waking up a bit!
The 4 week rolling average is 458 units. But that data includes the slow week from Christmas to New Year when 220 new listings came on the market. This will normalize next week.
Here is the surprise. Under agreements just came in HOT. It just seems like this year’s market was one week behind last year.
We had 735 homes go under agreement last week. This was 76 units or 11.5% more then the same week last year when 659 single family homes went under agreement. It’s in the pending data where the big difference was. This is what made the inventory levels take a dive like they did. I don’t love week over week change data. But this was a 33.4% increase in pending activity week over week.
The four week rolling average is 468 units.
So when compared to last year’s market… New listings were up by 13% while under agreements were up by 11.5%.
There were 384 Single Family homes that closed last week for an average sales price of $727 thousand dollars and a median sales price of $575 thousand dollars. Sales levels compared to the same week last year were down by 7.7% as there were 416 Single Family homes that sold this week last year for an average price of $677k.
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 nudged down to 1.23 months from last week’s 1.24 months. The 1.23 months this week is compared to the 1.16 months this week last year.
This really does show that the market conditions this year are pretty much identical to those of 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…
The condo market has just been steady Eddy so far in 2024! We have 1,757 condos on the market as of Monday. This is a 23 unit decrease from last week’s 1780 units and is 11.5% more than the inventory levels on the market just 28 days ago.
We continue to stay in line with 2023!
We did jump slightly above the levels in 2023 as we now have 20 additional units on the market today then today last year and 405 more units then compared to the inventory levels of 2022.
New Listing activity was up this week and you can check out all Quincy Homes For Sale.
There were 327 condos that came on the market last week with the four week rolling average of 286 condos.
The 327 units listed was 34 units or 11.6% more than the 293 condos that came on the market the same week in 2023.
Under agreements continue to go toe to toe with 2023 as well!
This week we put 335 units under agreement. This 335 units was 12 units or 3.5% shy of last year’s numbers when we put 347 condos under agreement. So two weeks ago it was 7 units shy and last week it was 6 units and now it’s 12 units shy. Our under agreements are right in line.
The four week rolling average is 237 units.
So 11.6% more listings that came on the market when compared to this week last year while selling 3.5% fewer condos.
There were 140 condos that sold this week for an average sales price of $700 thousand dollars and a median sales price of $523 thousand dollars. This same week last year there were 206 condos that sold. So sales levels were down by 32%.
Months of Inventory ticked up to 1.87 months from last week’s 1.81 months. This is compared to the months of inventory levels of 1.67 months this week last year.
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Time to talk about Interest rates…
Interest rates this week were really unchanged. Which is interesting considering we had some hot economic data.
Ultimately the data pointed to inflation coming back a little bit. So it was kind of interesting that interest rates didn’t see a jump.
My thoughts here are that even if inflation shows itself again.. The market is pricing in that the FED doesn’t have what it takes to increase interest rates right now.
The March rate cut looks to be off the table. Now the big money is talking about May or June. Ultimately if inflation rates start coming back… Rather than cutting rates, they will just keep them steady and won’t do any more increases… Because it’s an election year.
But to the point of interest rates… Check out this article!
That is how much interest rates make a difference.
The rule of thumb is that for every 1% that interest rates go down, then homebuyers pick up an additional 10% of equity!
A homebuyer with a $3,000 monthly housing budget can now afford a $453,000 house according to Redfin.
Now that number will change based on how much someone is putting down. As an example, someone who is putting down 20% could buy a lot more expensive of a house then the buyer putting down 3.5%.
Interesting quote in the article… Lower borrowing costs since the end of 2023 have brought some much needed relief to the US housing market. Sales, which were frozen over last year, are beginning to pick up steam. A sign that improved affordability has more buyers wading back into the market.
They are also quoted as saying… And something that I couldn’t agree more with is that “Trying to time the market around mortgage rates is probably a waste of energy, as affordability is unlikely to change meaningful in the next several months.”
And how about this one.. Something we very much knew.
US Home prices rose for the 10th straight month in November, but gains slow significantly.
They show this graph of the 10 months of pricing gains and well compare this to our graph in Massachusetts!
Prices go up in the spring and then retreat into the fall and are relatively level in the winter.
Spring home buyers… Starting your search early will save you tens of thousands of dollars. Just figured I would state the what is now hopefully obvious again.
And one more… Check out the Massachusetts Migration in 2023!
You would think that this would help with our housing crunch that we are seeing here in Massachusetts.
In 2023, Massachusetts saw a net migration, losing a little over 39,000 people.
I would hate to see what our market would be like if we had a positive net migration of 39,000 people!
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.