The median price of a single-family home in Greater Boston was $900,000 in March 2024, setting a new record high for the month of March, according to the Greater Boston Association of Realtors (GBAR).
That exorbitant price tag is just $10,000 short of the all-time monthly high for single-family homes in the region of $910,000, which was set in July of last year, according to The Boston Globe.
At the time, the record was the second time that record had been broken in three months, the Globe reported.
March 2024′s median price for single-family homes in Greater Boston is up 9.1% from the median price in March 2023, which was $825,000, according to a press release from GBAR.
Condo prices have also risen and broken the all-time high record for March, climbing 8.8% from $680,000 in March 2023 to $740,000 this past month.
Home prices increased last month despite March 2024 seeing the fewest number of single-family homes sold in in the region in March in 15 years, according to GBAR. Though total single-family home sales decreased by nearly 4% year over year, March 2024 saw a sharp increase of 31.5% over the month prior.
The month-over-month increase reflects the surge in buyer interest and activity that typically occurs as spring approaches, according to the trade group. This means that home prices are likely to increase in the coming months and may once again break records.
“Even though today’s sales pace is nothing like what we saw over the past half dozen years, the market has been busier than anticipated in the early part of the year,” the Realtors’ association president, Jared Wilk, said in a statement.
More Real Estate Sales, News
- Sale closed in Cambridge: $5.8 million for a three-bedroom home
- Single family residence in North Falmouth sells for $2 million
- Sale closed in Harwich: $2.3 million for a four-bedroom home
- Sale closed in Hyannis: $1.7 million for a condominium
- Single family residence sells in East Sandwich for $1.1 million
There’s still a lot of “pent-up” demand from buyers who’ve been waiting for mortgage rates to settle down, Wilk said. Additionally, there’s a large pool of buyers who’ve grown frustrated due to losing out on other offers. Both are “motivated and ready to buy,” Wilk said.
“At the same time, we lack listings, and that’s putting upward pressure on prices and creating affordability issues, especially in the entry level market,” he said. “It’s the primary reason sales activity isn’t stronger right now. We need more properties to sell.”
Many homeowners are reluctant sell their properties and take on a mortgage with a higher interest rate than they currently have, according to Wilk. The resulting limited inventory is allowing sellers to be “more aggressive” in pricing their homes, and buyers are having to contend with multiple offer situations again.
Many buyers are opting to make offers above asking price, according to Wilk. In fact, most single-family homes sold in March 2024 in Greater Boston went at or above full asking price.
Still, the number of available single-family homes in the region increased by a modest 1.7% in March 2024 from the month prior. That increase rapidly picked up steam in the first half of April, climbing by 24% in just the first two weeks.
“It’s unlikely we will see much in the way of price softening this spring, but there is an expectation mortgage rates will ease once the Fed moves to lower interest rates, and that should help improve buyers’ purchasing power in the coming months,” Wilk said. " ... There’s a greater sense of optimism about the housing market today than any time in the past two years.”