Home Prices Aren’t Dropping

Despite rising interest rates year over year home prices in Massachusetts are still rising. The problem is housing inventory is still very low and home buyers are left bidding over only a handful of houses in some towns. Everyone is expecting another housing bubble like in 2008 and waiting for the market to implode, but with inventory this tight, there is no relief in sight.

source: tradingeconomics.com

Nationally housing inventory is at historic low’s and even with the increasing mortgage rates, demand for housing is still healthy and with this few of houses hitting the market prices won’t be dropping unless we see a signaficant rise in the number of houses for sale. Middlesex county in Massachusetts for example has seen a 31.6% drop in number of houses listed year over year and a 22.8% increase in listing price since last year. The average sale price is up 6.14% year over year at a staggering $1,055,793.33 on average! However, the average “days on market” for sold homes in up 50% which is likely due to the steep rise in interest rates lowering some of the competition in certain segments of the market.

Worcester county has seen a similar trend with the average number of houses for sale dropping 39.6% year over year. The average list price is up 15.55 and the average sale price is up 3.04% to a still fairly expensive $504,462.27.