November brought significant declines to the Bay State’s single-family home and condo sales. Despite those declines, median prices continued to climb and set records. 

The Warren Group’s Massachusetts Sales Report for November 2021 found single-family home sales fell 7.8% to 5,366 from 5,819 a year ago. Compared to November 2019, however, home sales were up 16%.

The median sale price marked another all-time high for November at $510,000, up from $450,000 last year and up 30.4% from November 2019’s $391,000 price. Year to date, 56,538 single-family homes sold in Massachusetts, up 2.3% from the first 11 months of 2020, according to the report.

Warren Group CEO Tim Warren said while one might think a 7.8% decrease in sales is a cause for alarm, activity is still well above where it would be during a “normal marketplace.”

“In fact, November 2021 marked the second-most single-family home sales we’ve ever recorded in the month of November,” he said. “In the coming year, I think we will continue to see median prices increase, but at a more moderate pace. Sales volume is likely to be flat given the short supply, high prices and rising interest rates.”

Condominium sales also declined in November, falling 0.6% to 2,114, compared to 2,126 a year earlier and up 11.4% from November 2019. Last month, the median condominium sale price rose 8.5% to $445,000, a new high for the month. The median condo price was up 17.7% from November 2019.  

Warren said the condo market followed trends similar to the single-family home sector, with sales declines on a year over year basis, but activity well above what’s normally seen this time of year. 

“The condo market stumbled especially hard in the second and third quarters last year due to COVID-19, so there’s plenty of pent-up demand from prospective buyers that’s still playing out over a year later,” he said. 

There were 26,316 condo sales year to date, an increase of 21.6% from the first 11 months of 2020, while the median condominium sale price grew 9.6% to $455,000.