Massachusetts Home Buyer Guide

Twenty months and counting.

New Hampshire marked its 20th consecutive month of year-over-year home sale increases in July, The Conway Daily Sun reported August 30, 2013.

New Hampshire homes sales increased 23 percent in July compared to July 2013, and the price of homes in the Granite State increased 11 percent in July compared to the previous year.  The New Hampshire Association of Realtors provided the data. 

With average U.S. 30-year mortgage interest rates more than 1 percent higher than average rates in May, sales of new construction homes across the nation declined 13.4 percent in July 2013 compared to June 2013, Yahoo! Finance reported August 23, 2013.

Sales of newly built homes stood at a seasonally adjusted rate of 394,000 in July, according to U.S. Commerce Department data. July's sales numbers for new homes were the lowest in nine months, as sales fell from a rate of 455,000 in June. The June numbers were revised down from a previously reported 497,000 sales. 

Depending on your perspective, Massachusetts home buyers continued to purchase homes in July despite, or because of, rising mortgage interest rates. Mortgage interest rates began to rise in May and currently are about 1 percent higher than three months ago. 

Our neighbors to the north also are experiencing a real estate recovery. 

The New Hampshire Association of Realtors said that 1,587 single-family homes sold in June, the most sales since the September 2005 housing peak, the New Hampshire Union Leader reported July 31, 2013. 

If the do-nothing landlord and the noisy neighbors weren't incentive enough, three straight years of rising rents in Boston have many renters weighing their first-time home buyer options.

For three straight years, rents in five of Boston’s student populated neighborhoods are rising while the vacancy rate has fallen below 2 percent, the Boston Business Journal reported July 19, 2013. Rental Beast, a Somerville-based real estate market tracker, compiled the data.

The number of single-family homes sold in Lexington, Massachusetts in June 2013 declined 29 percent to 51 sales from 72 homes sold in June 2012, the Lexington Patch reported July 25, 2013, but home prices increased.  

Through the first six months of 2013 198 single-family homes sold in Lexington, down from 204 homes sold in the first half of 2012. The Warren Group, publisher of Banker & Tradesman, tracked the data.

The median price of a single-family home in Massachusetts increased 12 percent during the first six months of the year compared to the same period in 2012, The Warren Group, publisher of Banker & Tradesman, reported July 23, 2013.

The median price of a single-family home during the first half of the year stood at $315,000, up from $281,000 during the first half of 2012. Home prices increased almost 9 percent in June to $350,000, up from $321,800 in June 2012. June marked the ninth consecutive month of year-over-year home price increases, and the highest median price since August 2007. Quarterly home prices increased more than 10 percent to $330,000, up from $299,700 during the second quarter 2012.

The number of homes listed for sale across the U.S. increased by 4.3 percent in June to 1.9 million homes, the highest level in the last year, Realtor.com reported July 15, 2013. 

Nationally, the number of homes listed for sale stood 7.3 percent below year ago levels; however, the year-over-year decline stood at 18.6 percent in February 2013. June was the sixth straight month real estate inventories rose. 

Boston homeowners didn't get the memo.

The median price of a single-family home in Duxbury, Massachusetts increased 11.2 percent in the first half of 2013 compared to the first six months of 2012. 

MLS Property Information Network, Inc., the local multiple listing service, provided the data.

The number of Massachusetts foreclosure petitions – the first step in the Bay State foreclosure process – declined 86 percent in May compared to May 2012, leaving little doubt that the Massachusetts foreclosure crisis is history. 

The Warren Group, publisher of Banker & Tradesman, reported June 20, 2013 that there were only 248 foreclosure starts, the first time the number of foreclosure petitions fell below 250 since The Warren Group started collecting foreclosure data in 2006.  

While the media and the real estate industry earlier this week trumpeted the fact that single-family home sales reached the highest level since 2006 in May 2013 the more important number for Massachusetts home buyers is the jump in the median price of homes compared to May 2012.

After reports last year about how affordable homes were historically speaking, the Massachusetts real estate market heated up. Now that home prices have increased and mortgage interest rates have begun to rise recently home buyers, especially first-time home buyers, are feeling squeezed in a market still lacking sufficient inventory.  

The number of advertised auction notices in Massachusetts plunged 75 percent in April, as well as other types of foreclosure activity, The Warren Group, publisher of Banker & Tradesman, reported June 5, 2013.

There were 348 auction announcements in April, down more than 75 percent from 1,403 in April 2012. Auction notices through the first four months of the year are down 74 percent to 1,450 from 5,577 during the same period in 2012. It appears that the chance to buy a foreclosure is about over for most Massachusetts home buyers. Investors will pounce on anything halfway decent, and properties that need substantial work are not usually a good fit for first-time home buyers.