Shrewsbury was among the Bay State communities where home prices and sales climbed during the first half of 2007. This home with five bedrooms and five fireplaces is available for $799,000.
For some Bay State communities, the housing market downturn has had an upside.
Just over two dozen communities in Massachusetts have seen home sales and prices climb during the first half of the year, according to The Warren Group. The communities range from pricey Weston, where the median single-family home price exceeds $1 million, to more affordable Adams, where the median price is $137,500.
Both Weston and Adams saw prices jump by about 4 percent to 6 percent in the first six months of the year compared to a year earlier, according to The Warren Group, publisher of Banker & Tradesman. The increases are in contrast to what’s happening statewide. Statewide, single-family home sales were down 4 percent during the first two quarters while prices slipped 3.6 percent.
Affluent buyers are helping to prop up prices and sales in sought-after towns like Weston, Wellesley and Andover. In Weston the median selling price increased 3.9 percent to over $1.14 million during the first half of the year, and 100 homes sold, up 75 percent from a year ago.
“Most of the homes in Weston are selling at considerably higher prices than other markets and attract people who are not as typically affected by slight downturns or upturns. Their plans don’t get changed as easily as people who are struggling to qualify for a mortgage,” said Peter P. Casey, owner of Prudential Wilmot Whitney Real Estate in Weston.
“Weston is also a community which is usually in very high demand and given that the economy is in very good shape and that interest rates have not gone crazy – they’re still at historically low levels – and that all indications are that the stock market is still strong Â… people who are buying in Weston [are] fairly confident,” he said.
The number of homes listed on the market in Weston has dropped. There were 89 single-family homes listed for sale last week, which is down from about 100 listings six months earlier, according to Casey.
Wellesley’s housing market also has been holding its own. A total of 211 single-family homes were sold, a 7 percent increase from a year earlier, and the median price climbed 1.6 percent to $910,000.
“Wellesley is a very, very popular community, especially with younger, upwardly mobile folks who are looking for a busy, active town center. It’s almost as popular in terms of buying as Weston,” said Casey.
Not all brokers in communities where sales and prices rose feel that the trend will continue.
“I only see it as a blip, quite frankly,” said Ellen K. Whitney, owner of Zuromskis-Whitney Associates Realtors in Shrewsbury.
Single-family home sales in Shrewsbury, a suburb just 5 miles east of Worcester, surged 32 percent from January through June compared to the same months last year. The median price rose 5.5 percent to $400,000 from $379,250 during that period.
Whitney attributed the increases to activity during the spring season, which is traditionally the busiest period for residential real estate. She expects prices and sales to level off, particularly since a large supply of unsold homes remains on the market.
There were nearly 230 homes listed for sale as of last week, according to Whitney.
“The inventory is extremely varied,” she said. “You name a house style or house size and it’s available in just about every corner of town. It’s truly a buyer’s market.”
New-home construction in Shrewsbury has pushed prices up, according to local brokers. The median home price escalated 40 percent from $279,900 in 2000 to $392,250 last year.
“We are one of the communities that the prices were so far out of reality for a while there that we have a long way to go just to correct what was ridiculous pricing in the area,” Whitney said.
Four homes over $1 million and four others priced over $899,000 have sold so far this year. During the first half of 2006, there was not a single home sale over $899,000, according to Whitney.
On the North Shore, communities like Andover, Gloucester and Georgetown saw gains in the single-family home market.
Gloucester’s median home price jumped 13 percent to $390,000 in the first half of the year, while sales were up 16.3 percent.
‘Getting Slimmer’
Carol Dagle, an agent with RE/MAX Advantage Real Estate in Gloucester, said the town’s diverse neighborhoods and beaches attract buyers.
Several high-end home sales this year also has helped drive up the median price, according to Dagle. A 17-room oceanfront mansion fetched $4.5 million in May and in March a waterfront estate in the eastern part of town sold for $2.6 million. Two other homes, which had been on the market for over 300 days, sold in the $900,000s in the first six months of 2007, she said.
Dagle said sales have improved because home sellers are “becoming more realistic” about market conditions and are lowering their asking prices.
“The buyer is actually the one who determines value in a home. If they’re willing to pay the price that will a lot of times bring the value of an area up,” Dagle noted.
Harold F. Beaton, owner of Beaton Real Estate in Rockport, said Gloucester started experiencing the market slowdown two years ago, earlier than some other communities, and price adjustments began sooner. “We’ve been in the downturn longer than some areas,” he said.
Beaton still sees a buyer’s market because of the number of properties available for sale. There were 162 single-family homes 93 condos listed for sale last week, according to Beaton.
Like Gloucester, Andover saw its median home price jump by more than 10 percent in the first six months. The median price reached $551,500, an 11.3 percent increase from the $495,500 median recorded in the first half of 2006. Sales increased 6.3 percent.
Chris Doherty, one of the owners of Prudential Howe & Doherty Realtors in Andover, said the town’s good schools and town management and its easy access to interstates 495 and 93 have been big draws. “It’s an ideal location for a lot of people who want to live in a nice community but have access to their jobs and travel,” he said.
Andover’s investment in schools and infrastructure improvements has made it a desirable community and helped to sustain the housing market.
“We tend not to go down as deeply when the market does go down and we tend to go up more quickly,” he said.
The supply of for-sale homes also has fallen by about 27 percent. There were about 200 homes on the market last year, compared to 146 now, according to Doherty.
Wrentham, where the median price rose 5 percent to $430,000 during the first two quarters, also has seen inventory drop. There were 68 homes listed for sale as of last week, compared to over 100 a year earlier, according to Gail Thomas, manager of Prudential Page Realty in Wrentham.
“A year ago, you’d have your pick of an incredible amount of housing. Now it’s getting slimmer,” she said.
A total of 71 single-family homes were sold in Wrentham through June, a 51 percent increase from the 47 sales during the same months in 2006.
New-home construction over the years has fueled increases in home prices, according to local brokers. In the western part of town, 2-acre zoning has translated into expensive newly built homes.
“We still have quite a bit of land left unlike towns closer to Boston,” said Thomas.
John Robbins, president of Galvin Real Estate in Wrentham, said the town’s zoning, which requires 1- and 2-acre lots in some areas, is attractive for many buyers.
Others like the community because of its location near interstates 95 and 495, as well as Route 1, he said.
