Median home price in Massachusetts tops $600K for the first time
By Colin A. Young, State House News Service
STATE HOUSE, BOSTON, JULY 19, 2022 (State House News Service) - For the first time, the median single-family home price in Massachusetts exceeded the $600,000 mark last month and one housing market analyst says prices might not have hit their apex just yet.
The median sale price registered at $610,000 in June, The Warren Group reported Tuesday, up from a median of $555,000 in June 2021 and $440,000 in June 2020. The fierce competition for houses in the Bay State got even more fraught last month as inventory shrank -- the number of sales last declined 11.5 percent from last June to 6,182 sales.
"Keep in mind that it was only 14 months ago when the median price of $500,000 was exceeded for the first time. I doubt we've seen the end of it," Tim Warren, CEO of The Warren Group, said. "Experts keep speculating that with the recent hike in interest rates that prices could plateau in the near future, but I'm not sure we're at the tipping point just yet. Price increases are moderating this year, but they are far from flatlining. There are just so many buyers and not enough homes to go around. I expect prospective buyers to continue paying significant premiums in the coming months, even as it gets more expensive to borrow money."
Halfway through 2022, there have been 24,553 single-family home sales in Massachusetts, down 10.5 percent from the first six months of 2021. At the same time, the year-to-date median single family home price has increased 10 percent to $550,000 and is up almost 33 percent since June 2020, The Warren Group said.
Excepting Nantucket ($2.195 million median) and Dukes County ($1.2 million median), the most expensive Massachusetts county for single-family homes this year has been Middlesex County with a median sale price of $750,000, followed by Suffolk County's $726,000 median price and Norfolk County's median of $700,000. The most affordable counties so far this year have been Hampden County ($275,000 median), Franklin County ($287,000 median) and Berkshire County ($290,000).