Real estate tides are changin’, but slowly in Boston; Hang on!
Dear Homebuyer,
There are a lot of real estate headlines out there and some of them can sound mixed. When the tide is changing, often that is what you see and hear. Inman news recently reported that demand for mortgages in the US is at its lowest since the year 2000, at the same time they reported that median home prices were at a record high.
There are many reasons why home prices are high; inflation being a big one. But, the fact that mortgage applications have significantly reduced, sends a strong signal that current median for sale prices will not last. This is good news for buyers!
Let’s paint a picture of what’s going on in Greater Boston:
Note: Within Greater Boston this includes single family, condo, and multi-family homes for Suffolk, Norfolk, and Middlesex Counties. This was written as of July 21 and numbers for July were straight-lined prorated for Homes Sold & No. of Price Changes. This data was pulled from MLS.
Looking at the above table,
What’s important here is that the number of listings coming on the market is consecutively increasing. Spring just completing helps with this, but we aren’t yet at pre-pandemic levels. In June 2018 and June 2019 there were 5,782 and 6,680 respectively.
Median price increases on homes sold are increasing at a decreasing rate, even beginning to decrease.
The number of price changes in June was 571, nearly all of these will be price decreases. You will see the results of this in August and September.
Per the Federal Reserve Bank and general opinions, we will see interest rates continue to climb at least another .75 basis points.
Boston’s housing market is strong, but a correction (at least small) has been in the cards for some time. For buyers, competition has been decreasing, we see less offers per home. Sellers are also realizing it and Summer has certainly set in. If you need to buy today, we suggest you do so with a longer horizon of at least 7 years as the market can head in different directions. If you can wait, you may want to take advantage of at least a minor correction which is coming down the pike.