Though the median single-family home price continues to jump in Massachusetts, housing units are being taken off the market at a faster rate than a year ago.
The Bay State saw 2,136 single-family home sales in February, a rate that is 4.2% higher than the 2,050 transactions in February 2024, despite median prices rising 4.9% from the year before to $575,000, according to the Warren Group.
“In a continuation of trends set at the end of 2024, the number of single-family home sales and the median sale price are both up slightly from a year before,” said Cassidy Norton, Associate Publisher and Media Relations Director of the Warren Group.
Last year, the Massachusetts housing market recorded an all-time high for the median single-family home price as it reached $615,000, a 7.9% rise on a year-over-year basis.
If the first two months of this year are any indicator, prices could reach yet another all-time high as the median sing-family home sales spiked 5.5% to $580,000 in January and February, according to data the Warren Group published on Tuesday.
More than 4,765 single-family homes have been taken off the market so far this year, a 7% increase in the amount through the first two months of 2024.
Norton also noted that condominium sales followed broadly the same patterns as single-family homes, with 2,266 condos sold in the first two months of 2025, a 10.5% increase from 2024.
“The 10% year-to-date increase in sales may reflect an increase in inventory,” Norton said in a statement, “potentially illustrating a loosening in the market.”
In a report last week, the Massachusetts Association of Realtors highlighted how the median sales price for single-family homes decreased in February from January – the fourth consecutive month that costs have lowered from the month before.
Prices for single-family homes dropped by 1.6% to $600,000 and condominiums lowered by 4.5% to $534,950 from January, the MAR report indicates.
“Following a strong surge of new listings in January, February brought snowstorms and freezing temperatures, which delayed activity, with sellers remaining hesitant to put their homes on the market and buyers deterred from searching,” the report states.
“With the weather improving and median sales price decreasing,” the report adds, “it offers sellers the opportunity to put their properties back on the market and for buyers to enter a more active market.”
Massachusetts’ ongoing housing crisis remains at the top of mind for state policymakers.
Gov. Maura Healey released a “comprehensive housing plan” last month, outlining strategies to lower costs and build 220,000 new units over the next decade to mitigate the state’s ongoing housing crisis.
Strategies that could lead to a 7% increase in housing units statewide by 2035 include protecting, preserving and restoring affordable homes; providing direct subsidies and increasing access to homeownership for first-time homebuyers; preventing evictions and foreclosures; and working with employers on workforce housing needs.
“At the root of our challenge with the costs is a shortage of homes,” Healey said last month. “And it’s a shortage, as I say, that has built up over many years, as our state was not building the housing that we needed to keep pace with our economic growth.”