Here’s a cool chart that may not mean much unless you hang with me for 30 seconds:
Anywho… west coast home prices are declining while east coast prices aren’t sure what they’re doing yet. There are a bunch of articles online discussing the overall home price decline in CA and other western states, blaming the decrease on everything from a net migration out of the region, to a higher frequency of “atmospheric river events”, to a slowdown in tech industry, etc. At the same time, home prices in many metro areas on the east coast seem to still be climbing, including many towns around Boston. In fact, median sale prices of single-family homes sold in March 2023 in Metro Boston were 2.9% higher than they were in March 2022. For whatever reason, however, the median price per square foot of homes sold in Metro Boston was about 5% lower than at the same point last year. This was the third month in a row where that was the case, as you can see in the super-rad screenshot of my Metro Boston stats page above.
Despite the relative decline in price per square foot, spring buyers in the $500’s and $600’s are again experiencing bidding wars and facing around 15 other offers more often than not, allowing home prices in that submarket north of Boston to beat the overall trends at the moment.
Last, it seems like a majority of analysts blame continued price increases and fierce competition on the extremely low inventory we’re experiencing, with Metro Boston seeing about 16% less sales in March than last year, and 23% less when compared to March of 2021. It seems like most sellers don’t want to let go of the once-in-a-lifetime low mortgage rate they got when they refinanced in 2020 or 2021 and would rather hang tight rather than try to brave the housing market themselves.
Check out how your town is doing HERE.
