Mass. home sales tumble in 2023

With buyers facing rising prices and interest rates, home sales in Massachusetts have plummeted nearly 25% over the first eight months of 2023.

The Warren Group Tuesday reported that the median single-family home sale price increased 6.2% on a yearover-year basis to $600,00, a record high for August. There were 5,753 single-family home sales in Massachusetts last month, down 23.6% compared to August 2022.

"The hits keep coming for prospective homebuyers in Massachusetts," said Cassidy Norton, associate publisher of The Warren Group. "The shrinking single-family inventory continues to push prices to new highs. Couple this with the fact that interest rates are nearly double where they were a year ago, and the homebuying process is becoming more complicated — and expensive

— for buyers."

In the 139-town area of Greater Boston, year-to-date single family home sales are down 25.5%. The median single-family home sale price inside Interstate 495 was nearly $760,000 in August and stood at $720,000 yearto-date.

Renters and people looking to buy homes in Massachusetts have long been dogged by a tight inventory of available properties. State leaders have identified a housing affordability crisis in Massachusetts but the kind of sweeping legislation to address the problem has yet to emerge on Beacon Hill.

Gov. Maura Healey plans to roll out a multiyear housing bond bill soon that may also include housing policy changes and an initiative petition to bring back rent control in Massachusetts has roiled stakeholders in the sector ahead of the November 2024 statewide elections.