December is typically a cool-down month for home sales, but this year the record sales continued through the holiday season, with single-family home sales up 21.7% to 5,860 compared to a year ago, according to the Massachusetts Association of Realtors’ Monthly Indicators Report .
Condo sales also increased by 16.4%, compared to December 2019 with 2,189 units sold.
The median price for single-family homes and condos was $479,000 (up 16.7% from 2019) and $419,000 (up 7.7% from 2019), respectively.
Inventory hit an all-time low — both for single-family homes and condos — since MAR began collecting the data in 2004, and the months supply of inventory plummeted 63.6% for single-family homes and 25% for condos.
Steve Medeiros, 2021 MAR President and Realtor at Keller Williams Realty, said in a telephone interview that he wasn’t surprised considering how well sales did in November. “If you told me this is what December would look like before covid, I would say that’s ambitious,” he said.
Medeiros said last month, Massachusetts bucked the trend of December being a slowdown month for home sales.
“Early 2021 indicators show a continued trend of growth in the market; however, low inventory and multiple offers on in-demand properties will remain as two barriers for buyers,” he said in a written statement. “We anticipate a surge in home sellers in the early spring could provide more balance to the market.”
Clearly the inventory is low in the suburbs – however I see a relatively HIGH inventory in the urban core. In addition, the number of “rentals” could also be a mask for people who want to sell, but rather than put their property on the market are in a wait and see mode. Competition to sell a property in the urban core is high – it’s a bit lopsided – basically favoring for being a buyers not sellers. The opposite is the case in the suburbs.