Bay State home sales continued to decline in September as the pace of price increases slowed, according to a new Warren Group report.
Single-family home and condo sales fell across Massachusetts last month as mortgage rates rose, inventory issues persisted, and would-be homebuyers felt the pinch of climbing prices on consumer goods.
The Warren Group’s September sales report found single-family home sales fell 16.2% to 4,877 from 5,822 a year ago, marking the 15th month in a row of declining sales.
Warren Group CEO Tim Warren said sales took another hit last month as limited inventory, economic uncertainties and rising interest rates continued to weigh heavily on prospective buyers.
“In fact, this was the fewest number of single-family sales that we’ve seen in the month of September since 2014,” Warren said. “The median sale price is showing a slowdown as well. Prices are still rising, but at a more moderate pace. Last year there were only three months in which prices failed to increase by double digits. This year, through September, the price increase has been in single digits for six months. The big question is whether we will see the median price decline in a future month.”
Similar to July and August, despite fewer sales, median sales prices did climb, but at a slower pace. Since January, 40,513 single-family homes sold, down 11.9% year over year, while year-to-date median single-family home prices rose 8.1%.
Last month, the median single-family home price rose 7.8% from last year to $550,000. The median sales price is up from $510,000 in September 2021, marking an all-time high for the month.
Meanwhile, condominium sales posted another large decline in September, marking the 13th month in a row that sales fell on a year-over-year basis. September condominium sales fell 22.9% to 1,922 from 2,471 a year prior, while the median sale price increased 3.7% to $461,500, a new all-time high for the month, according to the report.
“The condo market has underperformed the single-family market in recent months, showing larger sales declines than single-family homes in every month this year,” Warren said.
Since January, 18,703 condos sold, down 15.3% from the first nine months of 2021, with a median sale price that’s up 7.6% to $495,000.