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THE FINANCIAL SERVICES AND REAL ESTATE WEEKLY FOR MASSACHUSETTS BY THE NUMBERS
PAGE 6
County close-up: Middlesex Spotlight: Hudson
IN PERSON
PAGE 7
The midst of a deep regional recession wasn’t the best time to be looking for a job in commercial real estate: That was the message that Dennis Clarke got when he cold-called Woburn-based Cummings Properties in 1992.
WEEK OF MONDAY, MARCH 5, 2018
RESIDENTIAL REAL ESTATE BY THE NUMBERS
$7.5 million The most expensive home sold in Middlesex County in the past three months was in Weston for a whopping $7.5 million. See page 6 for more about Middlesex’s housing market. Source: The Warren Group’s Statistics Module
14 percent There were 3,557 new singlefamily listings in MLS in January, down 14.3 percent from January 2017.
B U Y E R S B E P AT I E N T
2018 IS STARTING OFF EVEN
TOUGHER FOR BUYERS THAN 2017 RECORD-LOW INVENTORY PUSHING PRICES EVEN HIGHER
See Jim Morrison’s article on this page for more about low inventory squeezing homebuyers. Source: Massachusetts Association of Realtors
BY JIM MORRISON
2
BANKER & TRADESMAN STAFF
The home featured in this week’s Gossip Report boasts two garages, one attached and one detached.
he January numbers are in and the spring market has sprung. From the look of things, 2018 is going to make the feverish 2017 market look tepid and continuing to squeeze buyers. The market has pushed buyers to the edge, said Rich Rosa, broker/owner of Buyers Brokers Only. He has a number of clients who went from looking full time to only checking in with him once or twice Jim Morrison a month because so few homes hit the market that meet their criteria and budget. “Of course, there are still clients who need to move for one reason or another, so they look every week, but I have never had so many clients that only check in periodically; there just aren’t any homes for them to see,” Rosa said. Though the typical spring rush of new listings is coming online, it hasn’t been enough to satisfy the demand created by six years of declining inventory. There were 9,188 single-family homes for sale in January, according to data from the Massachusetts Association of Realtors (MAR). That’s down 31.8 percent from
See page 8 for the Gossip Report. Source: The Warren Group’s Statistics Module
$500,000 The median sale price of a singlefamily home in Middlesex County hit a half-million in January. See page 6 for more about Middlesex’s housing market. Source: The Warren Group’s Statistics Module
BofA Bank of America came in third in home lending in Middlesex County in January. Source: The Warren Group’s Mortgage Market Share Module
$345,000 The median sale price of a condo was $345,000 in January – the highest January median condo price in Massachusetts’ history. Source: The Warren Group’s Statistics Module
97 percent The median sale price of a single-family home jumped a staggering 97 percent from January 2017 to January 2018. See page 6 for more about Middlesex County’s housing market. Source: The Warren Group’s Statistics Module
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.
January January 2017 Sales 2018 Sales
T
Continued on Page 8
Change
January 2017 Price
January 2018 Price
Change
BARNSTABLE
313
281
-10%
$358,000
$380,000
6%
BERKSHIRE
82
76
-7%
$186,000
$187,500
1%
BRISTOL
297
293
-1%
$267,000
$274,000
3%
DUKES
20
24
20%
$657,500
$776,250
18%
ESSEX
410
425
4%
$399,950
$410,000
3%
FRANKLIN
42
46
10%
$188,250
$186,500
-1%
HAMPDEN
243
278
14%
$170,000
$180,000
6%
HAMPSHIRE
93
88
-5%
$230,000
$245,000
7%
MIDDLESEX
668
663
-1%
$450,000
$500,000
11%
NANTUCKET
17
20
18%
$1,040,000
$1,722,500
66%
NORFOLK
458
394
-14%
$442,500
$456,950
3%
PLYMOUTH
370
367
-1%
$319,000
$342,000
7%
SUFFOLK
118
103
-13%
$471,750
$525,000
11%
WORCESTER
498
542
9%
$229,250
$253,450
11%
MASSACHUSETTS
3,629
3,600
-1%
$342,900
$350,000
2%
All figures based on sales of single-family homes Source: The Warren Group
COMMERCIAL INTERESTS
BANKING MARIJUANA
By Scott Van Voorhis | Banker & Tradesman Columnist
By Bram Berkowitz | Banker & Tradesman Staff
Goodbye Granite, Hello Hardwood
Commercial Real Estate PAGE 3
State-Run Pot Bank Not Realistic
Banking & Lending PAGE 10