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THE FINANCIAL SERVICES AND REAL ESTATE WEEKLY FOR MASSACHUSETTS BY THE NUMBERS
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Originally listed with another agent for over $11 million in 2016, the Avon Hill home in this week’s top spot is a 19th-century New England Colonial on the outside and a 21st-century Icelandic home on the inside.
HOT PROPERTY
County close-up: Essex Spotlight: Saugus
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WEEK OF MONDAY, FEBRUARY 5, 2018 RESIDENTIAL REAL ESTATE BY THE NUMBERS
Southborough The highest percentage increase in the median sale price of a single-family home in the past decade was in Southborough. The median price in 2007 was $212,450; in 2017 it was $555,450, a 120 percent increase.
$855,000
YEAR IN REVIEW
SINKING INVENTORY DRIVES HOME PRICES HIGHER More of the Same Expected for Next Year
Although it was down 9 percent from its 2016 median, Manchester once again had the highest median sale price of all towns in Essex County last year at $855,000. See By the Numbers on page 6 for more about Essex County’s real estate sales in 2017.
16 vs. 0 Sixteen towns had a median single-family sale price above $1 million in 2017; no community had a median sale price of a condominium above $1 million. Boston came closest with a median condo sale price of $847,200. The median price of a single-family home was just under $2.7 million – down 10 percent from 2016, when it was over $3 million.
Berkshire County Berkshire County had the lowest median sale price last year at $195,000, a 4 percent increase over 2016. For more about the real estate market in 2017, see Jim Morrison’s article on this page.
16 The number of communities in Massachusetts with median single-family sale prices over $1 million doubled in a decade, from eight in 2007 to 16 in 2017.
4,000 The most expensive home sold in the Bay State last week comes with a 4,000-bottle wine cellar.
BY JIM MORRISON BANKER & TRADESMAN STAFF
E
conomics 101 says increasing demand coupled with decreasing supply equals rising prices – and to the surprise of no one, the end of this trend in the Bay State’s real estate market is nowhere in sight. The median sale price in 2017 jumped 5 percent to $365,000, a new record high, according to recently released analysis from The Warren Group, publisher of Banker & Tradesman. The number of single-family homes sales dropped 1 percent year over year in the state – a difference of just 102 sales. Without exception, everyone in real estate is talking about the lack of inventory. It’s been sinking for years – creating a lot of pent-up homebuyer demand – and is now at historic lows. Barnstable County mirrored the statewide numbers with a 1 percent drop in the number of sales and a 5 percent increase in the median price, to $375,000. Buyer demand coupled with a strong second-home market and a strong economy are driving the market there, said Brewster-based Annie Blatz, immediate past president of the Massachusetts Association of Realtors and branch executive of several Kinlin Grover offices. “I recently heard an economist say that with the stock market being so good, a lot of people with wealth will seek to diversify, cash out some of those gains and put them into real estate – and that sounds good to me,” she said. “There is always a demand for property on Cape Cod. Our biggest problem is inventory. We’ve seen an increase in listings in the first quarter, but they Continued on Page 8
COUNTY COMPARISON 2016 #sales
Barnstable Berkshire Bristol Dukes Essex Franklin Hampden Hampshire Middlesex Nantucket Norfolk Plymouth Suffolk Worcester Massachusetts
2017 #sales % Change
4,673 4,637 1,451 1,501 5,041 5,069 304 324 7,028 6,713 740 727 4,285 4,426 1,392 1,347 12,400 12,030 198 165 6,929 6,978 6,415 6,441 1,597 1,548 8,693 8,799 61,146 60,705
-1% 3% 1% 7% -4% -2% 3% -3% -3% -17% 1% 0% -3% 1% -1%
See the Gossip Report on page 8 for more about the top five most expensive recently homes sold.
2 Of the 368 communities tracked in The Warren Group’s data, only two did not record a single residential real estate transaction in 2017.
COMMERCIAL INTERESTS
Will Wynn Emerge a Loser? By Scott Van Voorhis | Banker & Tradesman Columnist
Unless otherwise noted, all data is sourced from The Warren Group’s Mortgage Market Share Module, Loan Originator Module, Statistics Module and/or proprietary database. For more information please visit www.thewarrengroup.com/business/ datasolutions.
Commercial Real Estate PAGE 3
UNFINISHED BUSINESS
Climate Is Right for Air Rights Projects By Steve Adams | Banker & Tradesman Staff
Commercial Real Estate PAGE 9