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Sales activity increased in February, a possible indicator that buyers may indeed be coming off the sidelines even as the number of homes coming onto the market shrank further.

In February, there were 2,136 single-family home sales in Massachusetts, according to The Warren Group, publisher of Banker & Tradesman. That’s a 4.2 percent increase from February 2024 when there were 2,050 transactions.

Additionally, There were 4,765 single-family home sales in the first two months of 2025, a 7 percent increase from 2024.

“If this trajectory continues, it’s going to be much busier this year,” said Andrew Marquis, senior vice president at Cross Country Mortgage. “I feel like we’ve had a three-year mortgage industry recession, I would say, just of like high [mortgage] rates, less transactions, more tentative buyers and sellers. I think that we’re slowly exiting that type of environment – at least that’s what it is at the moment. We have seen interest rates coming down moderately, a little bit, maybe [a] quarter- to a half-a-point this year. so that’s driving things a little bit as well. We’re not really in a refinance market yet, but I think if inventory continues to improve as the weeks pass, which is what we’re seeing, it could be a much busier year.”

The Massachusetts median single-family home price was $575,000 in February 2025, an increase of 4.2 percent over February 2024. The median single-family home sale price increased 5.5 percent in January and February basis to $580,000 compared to the first two months of 2024.

Numbers of new listings are down substantially on a year-over-year basis – 8.9 percent for single-families and down 3.7 percent for condominiums statewide in February, according to the Massachusetts Association of Realtors – the numbers of homes on the market are trending up, as is total inventory of homes for sale.

MAR reported only 4,025 single-family homes and 2,620 condos for sale in February, 14.9 percent and 5.5 percent declines year-over-year, respectively.

In Greater Boston, prices continued to trend upward. The median single-family sale price increased 5.9 percent on a year-over-year basis to $735,000. Year-to-date, there were 2,173 single-family home sales in the Greater Boston housing market in 2025, up 5.9 percent from 2024  with a median sale price of $745,000 up 7.7 percent from 2024.

A Zillow analysis released Monday found Greater Boston’s inventory of all types of residential properties dropped by 1.9 percent year-over-year last month, while new listings dropped 13.7 percent.

“I think the lack of inventory challenge in the Boston Market just continues to perpetuate,” Marquis said. “We’ve got a real lack of inventory still going on.”

Massachusetts’ condominium market also saw an increase in transactions. There were 1,108 condominium sales in February 2025, compared to 1,077 in February 2024, a 2.9 percent increase. Also, there were 2,266 condominium sales in the first two months of 2025, a 10.5 percent increase from 2024.

“Condominium sales followed broadly the same patterns as single-family sales,” Cassidy Norton, media relations director of The Warren Group, said in a statement. “The 10 percent year-to-date increase in sales may reflect an increase in inventory, potentially illustrating a loosening in the market.”