After three straight months of double-digit percentage declines, single-family home sales in Massachusetts rebounded to set new records in July, according to a report from The Warren Group.
The Warren Group, a provider of banking and real estate data, reported that 6,765 single-family homes were sold in the state last month, up 5.3% from the 6,425 sold in July 2019. The increase occurs after three consecutive months of double-digit declines that many attribute to COVID-19, the subsequent lockdown and its economic disruption.
The median sales prices for a single-family home sold last month was $460,000, up 8.2% from the July 2019 median of $425,000 —
an all-time high for the month of July.
In a statement, Warren Group CEO Tim Warren said that as the pandemic spread, many analysts and local real estate professionals "anticipated activity in the second quarter to be awful and the third quarter would be gangbusters."
"During the lockdown, many people were preoccupied with adjustments to their personal lives," he said. "Many were also uncertain about their jobs, as well as the economy, and weren't actively looking for homes."
But he said that it appeared that "shopping resumed in May," with the first wave of deals closing in July.
"Many buyers may have also gained optimism by not seeing wave after wave of layoffs and perhaps encouraged by a booming stock market," Warren said.
Through the first seven months of the year, single-family home sales in Massachusetts are still off nearly 10%, but their median sale price of $425,000 represents a 6.3% increase from the same point in 2019.
"Buyers' objectives and priorities for the location of their next home may have adjusted as well," Warren said. "Confidence in the effectiveness of remote work may have enabled consideration of new locations. Our data shows significant spikes in sales in western Massachusetts as well as on the Cape."
Condominium sales were flat last month. The Warren Group reported 2,462 such sales, down just a single unit from July 2019. Their median sales price last month was $430,000, up 10.3% from the comparable year-ago median of $390,000.
Year-to-date, there have been 11,933 condo sales — down 13.7% from the first seven months of 2019 — with a median sale price of $415,000, up 9.2% increase on the same basis.
"The condo market also started to heat back up in July, and it was heavily driven by activity in Suffolk and Middlesex counties," Warren said. "However, I'm curious to see if future demand for condominiums is affected by concern for living in more densely populated buildings and neighborhoods."
