The Greater Boston housing market is hot right now and both prices and sales are rising. Sales of single-family homes and condominiums rebounded in September across the Greater Boston area, climbing for the first time in at least six months on a year-over-year basis. There were record sales in September. The previous high for September sales occurred five years ago when 1,218 single-family homes were sold in September 2015,
That's according to the latest data from the Greater Boston Association of Realtors. The demand for single-family homes is high. Sales of single-family homes rose on an annual basis by 32.3 percent last month, climbing from 1,064 homes sold in September 2019 to 1,408 this September to set a new record for sales volume during the month of September.
Despite an increase of 38.2% year-over-year in pending sales in September, active listings dropped by -29.4%. It is one of the factors that affect overall sales dollar volume while simultaneously creating a very competitive and tight market which keeps the home prices from plunging. The biggest challenge holding back sales is the lack of enough inventory to sell with months of supply dropping to 1.5 months.
Sellers still hold the upper hand due to the imbalance between supply and demand. At the current pace of buying, inventory would run out in just six weeks. On the other hand, the Boston home buyers are benefitting from record-low mortgage rates.
There was a sigh of relief for them as there was a spike in new listings that came on the market last month. Compared to August, the new listings of single-family homes saw a jump of 20.6%. As more sellers entered the market, the total listings also increased by 15.2% from last month. However, these figures are still lagging behind last year.