First-time buyers finding more success in Northeast than anywhere else in US
First-time home buyers made up 40 percent of buyers in the state last year despite rising home prices and low inventory.
First-time home buyers made up 40 percent of buyers in the state last year despite rising home prices and low inventory, according to the “2018 Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers Massachusetts Report” from the National Association of Realtors.
That percentage was higher in 2017 (42 percent), but it’s still above the national average of 33 percent, according to the national association. The state percentage was higher than in the Midwest (35 percent), South (30 percent), and West (29 percent), but slightly worse than the Northeast as a whole, which had a total share of 45 percent of first-timers in 2018.
According to a report the Massachusetts Association of Realtors released Wednesday, the median sales price in 2018 for single-family homes in the state was $397,500, up 5.4 percent from 2017. Condos, which in 2018 had a median sales price of $375,000, saw an even bigger increase compared with the December before, 7.1 percent.
This is a common theme: For single-family homes, median prices have been up or flat for 34 out of the last 36 months, while for condos, median prices have been up or flat for 33 out of the last 36 months, the state organization said.
While there are a variety of contributing factors to rising sale prices, lack of inventory reportedly is playing the biggest role.
“Whether it was December or all of 2018, the phrase that best describes this real estate market was ‘lack of homes for sale,’ ” Anne Meczywor, association president and broker/associate at Roberts & Associates Realty Inc. in Lenox, said in a statement. “It’s not too much of a stretch to imagine we’ll be using the same phrase to describe 2019 if we can’t do something to increase production and encourage more homeowners who are on the fence about selling to put their homes on the market.”
In 2018, the state saw a 2 percent decrease in total closed sales for both single-family homes and condos. Closed sales have been down or flat in 10 out of the past 12 months for single-family homes and down or flat for eight out of the last 12 months for condos, according to the report.
The numbers in December 2018 were particularly stark when compared with December 2017. In December 2018, there were 4,129 single-family homes on the market, down 9.1 percent from Dec. 2017. For condos, there were 1,504 on the market in December 2018, down 11.6 percent from the year before.
The median sales prices for single-family homes and condos in December 2018 were down slightly when compared with the December before.
“Interest rates are a wild card. If they rise, it could make homes less affordable and cut demand for the upper-end, but may fuel increased demand in the more affordable range, which is already facing short supply,” Meczywor said.
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