Massachusetts Single-Family Home Sales Dip Sharply as Prices Rise

Sales of single-family homes in Massachusetts declined last year as prices continued to climb.

The Warren Group, a leading provider of real estate and transaction data, reported that "After another month of decline in December, Massachusetts single-family home and condo sales ended 2022 down by double digits for the full year."

"Last month, there were 3,838 single-family home sales in Massachusetts, a 31.7 percent decrease from December 2021 when there were 5,622 transactions," the group reported.

The group said, "This marked the fewest single-family home sales in the month of December since 2012." Meanwhile, "The median single-family sale price increased just two percent on a year-over-year basis to $510,000, up from $500,000 in December 2021."

Despite being an all-time high price for the month of December, "year-over-year increases have been shrinking for the past three months."

"The Massachusetts single-family market finally hit that wall we've all been anticipating," said Tim Warren, CEO of The Warren Group.

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Warren said a near doubling of interest rates accompanied by economic uncertainty "and you have the making of a cooling housing market."

Year-to-date, there were 52,397 single-family home sales in Massachusetts in 2022, a 15.9 percent decrease from 2021. The year-to-year median single-family home price increased by 7.8 percent on the same basis to $550,000.

There were 1,568 condominium sales in December 2022, compared to 2,208 in December 2021 – a 29 percent decrease on a year-over-year basis.

"That marked the largest year-over-year decline in 2022," the group said.

The median condo sale price increased 1.4 percent on a year-over-year basis to $445,500 - the smallest year-over-year increase recorded in 2022.

There were 23,616 condo sales in Massachusetts in 2022, a 17.2 percent decrease from 2021. The median sale price was $489,000, a 7.7 percent increase.