Mass. home, condo prices surge despite pandemic
The residential real estate market is booming in Massachusetts as the single-family and condo sale prices surge despite the coronavirus pandemic, according to a new report from The Warren Group.
Statewide, the median price of a single-family home jumped 11.4% to $445,500. Condo prices shot up 9.2% to $415,000 — the largest single-year increases in over a decade.
“The acceleration and momentum for price increases seem to be the stand-out feature of last year to me,” Tim Warren, CEO of The Warren Group, told the Herald.
Nantucket was the most expensive location to buy a home or condo, with the median sale price for a single-family home of just over $2 million — a 34.2% jump over the prior year, the largest of any county, Warren Group data show.
The median price for a condo in Nantucket in 2020 was $824,000 — 4.4% more than in 2019. Berkshire County saw the biggest year-over-year jump in median price for a condo, jumping almost 60% to $285,000 last year.
Hampden County was the cheapest place to buy a home, with a median price of $227,500 in 2020.
Franklin County saw the least amount of year-overyear growth, with median single-family home prices jumping just 9.6% to $227,500. Dukes County saw the median condo price drop nearly 1% from $500,000 in 2019 to $470,000 last year, according to the Warren Group data.
When it comes to purchasing a home, Warren said prices are unlikely to tumble much any time soon with interest rates unlikely to increase and as strong consumer confidence endures.
Prospective home buyers looking to strike a deal should look to invest in communities where the median home price is below the statewide number, he said.
“Look at the lower end of the spectrum and look at communities where there’s more room to grow — where they’re behind,” Warren said.
The surging home sales market comes in stark contrast to the rental markets around the state, where prices have plummeted since the onset of the pandemic.
In September, a Herald report found Boston rental prices had plummeted an average of 7%. The drop in rental prices is due to additional inventory and a lack of renters as many jobs and colleges remain remote, experts said at the time.
Last month, there were 6,410 single-family home sales in Massachusetts — the most transactions ever recorded in December. This marked a 28.6% increase from the year before, the Warren Group added. Year-to-date, there were 61,469 single-family home sales in 2020 — a 3.9% jump.