Home, Condo Sale Prices Set September Records

Article Source: State House News Service
Article By: Michael P. Norton

Low Rates, Strong Demand May Lift Fall Market

 

OCT. 28, 2020…..Home and condo sales and prices skyrocketed across Massachusetts in September, with the median single-family home price surging to $472,000.

The Warren Group on Wednesday reported that nearly 6,400 single-family homes were sold last month, up from just over 5,000 during September 2019. The 27 percent increase in home sales was coupled with an 18 percent increase in the median sale price.

The strong demand for new homes comes as pandemic era unemployment remains high and the state tries to guard against tens of thousands of evictions now that Gov. Charlie Baker and the Legislature have let an eviction moratorium expire. Bills to boost the supply of housing also remain bogged down on Beacon Hill.

The third straight month of large housing market gains followed a sales slump in the earlist months of the pandemic.

Year-to-date, there have been 42,566 single-family home sales, a 4 percent decrease from the first nine months of 2019. The median year-to-date sale price of $440,000 is up 10 percent.

Condo sales are also down year to date, by 7.5 percent. However, nearly 2,500 condos sold last month in Massachusetts, a 26 percent increase over September 2019, and the median condo sale price increased 11.5 percent on a year-over-year basis to $418,000.

Tim Warren, CEO of The Warren Group, said a work-from-home lifestyle for some workers and “rock-bottom mortgage rates” could prolong the sales boom.

“Historically in September we start to see a significant slowdown in single-family home sales, but this proved not to be the case in 2020,” Warren said in a statement Wednesday morning.