Massachusetts home sale prices hit another all-time high last month, but they grew at the slowest rate seen all year as the housing market continues its long cool-down.

The Warren Group, publisher of Banker & Tradesman, reported 3,838 single-family home were sold in Massachusetts at a median sale price of $510,000, a mere 2 percent increase in the median sale price since December 2021, compared to 4.12 percent year-on-year growth in November, 4 percent in October and 7.84 percent in September. The sales tally was down 31.7 percent over the same period, and marked the fewest single-family home sales in the month of December since 2012, the company said.

A similar tale played out in the condominium market last month, the company said: 1,568 units sold at a median price of $445,500. Those figures represent a 29 percent fall – the largest in any month this year in the condo market – and a 1.4 percent increase over December 2021, respectively. The price increase was the smallest one recorded all year on the condo market.

“The Massachusetts single-family market finally hit that wall we’ve all been anticipating,” said Tim Warren, CEO of The Warren Group. “For the last few years, housing market activity has been so hot that inventory was unable to keep up – and our numbers reflect that. Add in economic uncertainties and the fact that mortgage rates are nearly double what they were a year ago, and you have the making for a cooling housing market.”

Many of the homes whose sales closed in December likely went under agreement in October and November, immediately after average interest rate on a 30-year, fixed-rate mortgage had soared a full percentage point over the course of a single month. Over October and November, that rate then rose from 6.7 percent to 7.08 percent for the seven days ending Nov. 10, according to Freddie Mac, before beginning a slow slide down to 6.48 percent.

“While there is reason for optimism, lack of available inventory continues to be a concern for the Massachusetts housing market,” David McCarthy, 2023 president of the Massachusetts Association of Realtors said in a statement. “Buyers and sellers alike, as sellers are unwilling to give up the historically low rates they locked in and decide to wait until market conditions improve, further limiting the inventory available to prospective buyers in the state.”

Many others, 2023 Greater Boston Association of Realtors President Alison Socha said in a statement, have been priced out by the combination of price increases and mortgage rate jumps in the last year, with some hoping for home prices to actually begin falling.

MAR reported only 3,981 single-family homes and 1,926 condos were on the market statewide in December, an 8.5 percent and a 17.3 percent fall, respectively. And only 1,592 new listings for single-families and 725 new listings for condominiums hit the market that month, in both cases over 25 percent fewer properties than hit the market in December 2021.

Statewide, the average time a single-family listing sat on the market rose nearly 22 percent year-over-year, to 39 days, while that figure stayed flat for condo listings at 40 days. In GBAR’s territory, which roughly covers the area along and within Route 128, plus MetroWest, it took an average of 35 days for a single-family listing to go under agreement and 41 days for a condo listing to do so, a 66.7 percent jump and a 7.9 percent increase, respectively.

“With fewer buyers in the market, the number of homes drawing multiple offers is down and homes are taking longer to sell. That’s reduced much of the upward pressure on prices, and given buyers more room to negotiate,” Socha said.

Still, don’t expect anything more than “modest” price declines, Socha said, thanks to the state’s historically low rate of housing construction.

Some hints of renewed activity are appearing in the Greater Boston market, Socha said, with buyer traffic at open houses picking up this month after the holidays.

Warren also noted that the condo market could see an influx of new units this year from projects that broke ground in 2022.