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New reports from the Massachusetts Association of Realtors and online brokerage Redfin shows that the February housing market began heating up.
Nearly every offer – 78.6 percent – written by a Redfin agent in Greater Boston last month encountered at least one competing one, the brokerage said last week. That’s up from 75.8 percent in January and only 67.7 percent in February 2021. It also made Boston the 10th-most competitive housing market in the nation that month.
The increase in competition coincided with signs that mortgage interest rates were starting to rise, but largely occurred before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine sent shockwaves through the global economy and the bond markets that help set interest rates.
“It’s the most competitive time in history to purchase a home because mortgage rates are rising from historic lows amid a worsening supply shortage,” Redfin Chief Economist Daryl Fairweather said in a statement. “Bidding wars intensified this year after rates started spiking, which lit a fire under buyers. Competition will likely plateau or even decline if rates keep increasing as expected. Monthly mortgage payments for new buyers are already at a record high. As they continue to creep up, some buyers will move to the sidelines.”
Across Massachusetts, both final and cumulative days on market were down 20 percent for single-family properties over February 2021, MAR said in a report released Wednesday morning. Those figure sat at 32 and 40 days, respectively. Among condominiums, the drop-offs were even steeper: final days on market dropped 28.3 percent to 38 days, year-over-year, and cumulative days on market dropped 23.8 percent year-over-year, to 48 days.
Both inventory and new listings were down as well, MAR said.
Single-family inventory stood at 2,349 statewide, a 45.5 percent drop from February 2021, and only 3,202 new listings arrived on the market – a 5.5 percent slump over the same period.
For condo properties, inventory sat at 1,559 homes last month, a 50.7 percent plunge from February. A mere 1,884 new condo listings hit the market last month, a 6.3 percent slide from February 2021.
The shortage has sent prices up statewide, with the Boston area being no exception, the Greater Boston Association of Realtors reported recently.
“Sales have been tough to come by lately and this was especially true in February,” GBAR President Melvin A. Vieira, Jr., an agent at RE/MAX Destiny said in a statement provided by the association with its monthly market report. “Sellers have been slow to list their properties this winter, but we expect inventory to improve as we enter the spring selling season which will provide more opportunities to buy. On top of that, there’s a sense of urgency among buyers to find a home before mortgage rates and prices climb higher, and that will help drive sales at least in the short term.”
