Massachusetts Home Buyer Guide

As expected, the median price for single-family homes in Massachusetts increased in April; however, the big story for home buyers is the increase in new homes for sale across the state. 

New single-family home listings added to the market in April 2013 increased 12.7 percent compared to the same time last year (9,350 new listings in April 2013 cpmpared to 8,294 listings in April 2012). There was a 44 percent increase in new homes for sale from the 6,468 listings added to the market in March 2013. April saw the biggest increase in new home listings since April 2010, the Massachusetts Association of Realtors reported May 29, 2013. 

New Hampshire Home Buyers were out in full force to get the Spring real estate season started, pushing NH home sales and median prices up in April 2013. 

The number of residential homes sold in New Hampshire in April was the highest for any April since 2006, climbing more than 9 percent compared to April 2012, the New Hampshire Association of Realtors (NHAR) reported May 16, 2013.

Dedham, Massachusetts home sales declined in March, but the median price of a single-family home increased compared to March 2012, the DedhamPatch reported April 25, 2013. 

The Warren Group, publisher of Banker & Tradesman, provided the data. 

Westford, Massachusetts is a community-oriented town with much to offer home buyers looking for a peaceful setting, with easy access to necessary amenities.

Incorporated in 1729, Westford originally was a farming community and later became known for its mills and granite quarries. Today it also is home to many high-tech businesses.

Single-family home prices in Wilmington, Massachusetts increased more than 16 percent in March to $377,629 compared to March 2012, the WilmingtonPatch reported May 6, 2013. 

Wilmington, MA had 18 single-family homes sold in March, the same total that sold in March 2012. In the first quarter, 45 single-family homes sold in Wilmington, down from 46 during the same time period in 2012. 

Massachusetts home buyers who have been actively searching for homes are well aware of the lack of real estate inventory available right now, but would-be home buyers only searhing online may be unaware of how little inventory there really is available. 

MLS Property Information Network (MLS PIN), the primary multiple listing service in Massachusetts, has decided to change the way home listings are displayed after a seller accepts an offer starting today (Tuesday May 21, 2013). MLS PIN will do away with the "Active" with a flag status (ACT) and require listing agents to list homes with fully-executed offers as under agreement (aka, UAG). Listings marked as active with a flag status on May 21, 2013 will automatically be changed to UAG.

Eighteen months ago Massachusetts home buyers did not need be too concerned with whether a home for sale they visited would be available to make an offer on the next day or even the next week. How times have changed. 

A new home listing in Holliston, MA that a Buyers Brokers Only, LLC client wanted to see yesterday went under agreement in about three hours on Thursday. Not three days, but it went under agreement in about three hours. Stories like the one above have frustrated home buyers in Massachusetts over the past few months.

For many Massachusetts home buyers interested in purchasing a foreclosed property time may have run out. 

The number of foreclosure petitions – the first step in the foreclosure process in Massachusetts – plunged by 82 percent in March, declining to 284 foreclosure petitions compared to 1,621 petitions in March 2012, The Warren Group, publisher of Banker & Tradesman, reported May 13, 2013. 

The National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) publishing arm recently released a study of what home buyers want in a home. 

"The housing downturn of the last few years affected not only the number of new homes that are built each year, but also the characteristics, features and size of the ones that do get built.  Builders and other industry professionals now have an opportunity to find out what home buyers really want and will not give up in  today’s market, as well as which features they are ready to leave behind in light of current economic realities," according to the NAHB study released February 19, 2013. 

The median price of a single-family home in Tewksbury, Massachusetts increased nearly 25 percent to $304,000 in March 2013 compared to March 2012, the TewksburyPatch reported May 6, 2013. 

The Warren Group, publisher of Banker & Tradesman, provided the Tewksbury, MA real estate data. 

The median price of a single-family home in Westwood, Massachusetts declined 19 percent in March compared to March 2012, the WestwoodPatch reported April 24, 2013. 

The median home price in Westwood declined from $480,000 in March 2012 to $390,000 in March 2013. The median price declined just 2 percent in the first quarter to $484,000 from $494,000 in Q1 2012. 

Greater Boston home buyers saw the average price of a single-family home increase by 5.2 percent in February compared to February 2012, according to the Case-Shiller Home Price Index, which was last released April 30, 2013. 

The report showed that home prices in Boston, using seasonally adjusted data, increased 1.1 percent from January to February. The index is made up of 20 cities, and all 20 cities have shown an increase in home values for at least two consecutive months on a year-over-year basis.