TONY DUCHARME
‘Strong, steady’ market
Buyers searching for a new home in the Merrimack and Nashoba valleys have hundreds of more properties to choose from this year.
As of last week, 2,384 single-family homes and condominiums were listed for sale in 15 cities and towns along Interstate 495. That’s up from 1,423 a year ago, according to information provided by the Northeast Association of Realtors.
The sharp increase in for-sale properties means that home sellers will have to be especially careful about pricing, according to Realtors who spoke at a briefing on the local housing market in Chelmsford last week.
“Well-priced homes continue to sell very quickly,” said Brenda Beaudoin, a Dracut real estate broker who is president of the Northeast Association of Realtors.
But Beaudoin, who characterized the current real estate market as being balanced for buyers and sellers, said today’s buyers are not willing to overpay for property.
“Sellers need to carefully price their homes,” said Beaudoin, owner of Beaudoin & Assoc. in Dracut.
The residential real estate market in Massachusetts has shifted over the last few months, and price appreciation has moderated across the state. Industry leaders do not anticipate the steep price increases that have characterized the real estate market in previous years. Statewide, home prices have increased more than 10 percent annually from 2000 to 2004, according to The Warren Group, parent company of Banker & Tradesman.
In 15 cities and towns in the Merrimack and Nashoba valleys – including Lawrence, Lowell, Methuen and Chelmsford – single-family home sales slipped 7.7 percent last year compared to 2004, according to information provided by NEAR from the MLS Property Information Network. The median selling price for a single-family home in the region climbed 6.7 percent to $370,900 last year.
A weaker job market, the bump-up in interest rates and the hurricane devastation that led to a spike in gas prices and construction costs contributed to the slide in single-family home sales late last year, said Tony Ducharme of Century 21 G.J. Brown in Dracut.
But Ducharme said he anticipates a “strong, steady” market if sellers adjust their asking prices to reflect current conditions.
In cities like Methuen and Lawrence, home prices are about the same as they were last year, according to Joe Fisichelli of Re/Max Preferred in Methuen.
“The market should remain stable with slight appreciation,” Fisichelli predicted.
Maintain Focus
But with a wider selection of available for-sale homes expected in 2006, home sellers who haven’t maintained their properties will be at a disadvantage, according to local Realtors.
“If you haven’t reinvested in your property Â… you won’t get that top price,” said Bernadette Gibson, an agent with Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage in Andover.
Gibson, who noted that 30 to 40 homes are coming on the market weekly in North Andover and Andover, said she tells clients that making home improvements, even minor ones like painting, won’t add value to the home but will make it more sellable.
Home maintenance is especially critical in towns where newly constructed homes are springing up and home sellers have to compete for buyers’ attention, according to Realtors.
NEAR members who participated in last week’s briefing said buyer demand will continue to be strong this year, particularly since mortgage interest rates are still low.
Industry leaders are expecting interest rates to inch up later this year. The National Association of Realtor predicts that the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage will rise to 6.9 percent by the end of the year.
But Don McMeniman of Dick Lepine Real Estate in Dracut said even with the slight increase, interest rates are still favorable. For anyone who purchased a home when rates were 9 percent, 10 percent or 11 percent, “7 percent is still a great interest rate,” he said.
Realtors also noted that the mild winter weather, with the exception of last weekend’s blizzard, has helped spur activity in recent weeks.
Dan Sullivan, an agent with Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage in Chelmsford, said traffic at open houses has tripled.
“We’re experiencing an early spring market,” he said.
Single-family home sales dropped off by as much as 13 percent to 20 percent in some communities in the Merrimack and Nashoba valleys, according to NEAR. Sales in Westford and Littleton plummeted 20 percent, while sales in Chelmsford were down by nearly 14 percent, and sales in North Andover and Tewksbury fell by about 13 percent.
Prices in all those communities, however, went up last year. The median home price in Littleton escalated 14 percent to $479,000, while the median price in Westford rose to $515,000, an 11.5 percent increase from the prior year.
The biggest jump in value occurred in Tyngsboro, where the median single-family home price rose nearly 15 percent to $430,000.
Meanwhile, condo sales in the region were up 2.8 percent last year, while the median selling price reached $217,000 – 5.5 percent higher than 2004. Condo sales were strong in Methuen, Andover and Lowell, where the number of units sold jumped respectively to 56 percent, 24 percent and 22 percent, according to NEAR.
Median condo prices in those communities ranged from $198,500 in Lowell, to $205,000 in Methuen, to more than $300,000 in Andover. Andover’s median condo price last year was 19.3 percent higher than 2004 when the median was $257,500.
Statewide, sales of single-family home fell 7.6 percent last year, while the median home price rose 5.5 percent to $345,000, according to statistics provided by The Warren Group, parent company of Banker & Tradesman. Condo sales, on the other hand, shot up 8 percent, and the median condo price surged 12 percent.
