The Lamacchia Housing Report presents overall home sale statistics and highlights the average sale prices for single families, condominiums, and multi-family homes in Massachusetts and Southern New Hampshire for August 2017 compared to August 2016. It also looks at other metrics in Massachusetts like Homes Listed and Pending, as they are often the best indicators for predicting future trends in the market.
Massachusetts August Home Sales Down 2.66%
Massachusetts home sales decreased 2.66% in August 2017 from August 2016.
Home sales decreased slightly for single families and condos but increased for multi-families this month compared to August 2016, with multi-families increasing a little under 3% (from 834 sold in August 2016 to 857 in 2017). Single families went down 2.24%, from 6,914 to 6,759. Condos had a slightly more significant decrease of just over 5%, from 2,792 in 2016 to 2,644 this year.
The average price increased slightly in condos by almost 3% from $340,374 to $348,832. There was a decent size increase in single-family prices by almost 8.5% from $439,313 to $476,546. The largest increase was by almost 13.5% for multi families, increasing from $416,037 to $471,983.
Homes Listed for Sale:
There were 9,134 homes listed for sale in Massachusetts in August 2017 compared to 8,912 in August 2016 which represents a 2.49% increase. We predicted in our 2017 Mid-Year Report that due to June 2017’s decrease in listed and pending sales that sales could be down for August which is turning out to be the case, but only by 2.66% which is fairly small. It should be a good thing for the fall market that this month’s listed homes are up.
Pending Home Sales:
There were 8,952 homes that went pending in August 2017 according to MLSPIN, compared to 9,048 in August 2016, which represents a very slight decrease of just over one percent. Although not a statistically significant change, when the number of pending homes is down, it shows that the number of sold homes could be down this month. Not to worry though, the fall market tends to heat up and sway into the buyer’s favor, so an increase in sales for September is still very likely.
Southern New Hampshire Home Sales Up 3.44%
The number of properties sold in Southern New Hampshire rose 3.44%. Condos increased by the highest percentage, 12.93%, from 348 in August 2016 to 393 in August 2017. Single families rose just over 1%, from 1,099 to 1,111 and multi-family sales decreased by 7.58% in August, from 66 to 61.
The average price for homes in New Hampshire increased by almost 6%, with condos being the only category that decreased by a negligible 0.17% from $235,580 to $235,180 in August 2017. Multi-families and single-families increased in average price, by 11.56% (from $276,998 to $309,007) and 7.75% (from $310,937 to $335,035) respectively.
What’s Ahead?
As explained in our recent blog, the fall market is as much of a buyer’s market as we are going to see this year- if you’re looking now is the time to get out there. Click here to read and learn more about why. Now that the summer is complete and people are back out looking for homes, we hope that we will see an increase in sales by the time we get to October. We are already seeing the pending homes increase which should carry through to September. If you are looking to list your home and take advantage of the seasonal peak, read our blog on the best ways to prepare for selling in the fall. Always contact us at Lamacchia Realty with questions.