Marblehead Housing Report for October

Here are the headlines:

Single Family House (SFH) sales were just 12, after being in the 22-30 for each of the previous 6 months. YTD sales are 196, almost unchanged from last year’s 197. With 35 pending sales the year’s total will likely be very close to last year’s level, whereas in the summer it looked as though that total would be easily passed.

The slowdown can be attributed to: the jump in mortgage rates in the summer; the hoopla in Washington over a Government shut down; the lack of supply at the lower end; and the lack of demand at the higher end.

The median price through 10 months of 2013 is $536,000, up 5% from $510,000 in the first 10 months of 2012.

Condo sales were 3 in October, taking the YTD number to 35 compared with 36 last year. With 10 sales pending, the year’s total may improve slightly on last year’s 42. While only 12 condos sold in the first half of 2013, the third quarter alone saw 20 sales, the highest number in one quarter since Q2 2005. Supply remains low with only 17 available for sale.

The median price for condos through 10 months of 2013 is $330,000. While this is a 31% increase from 2012, last year’s number was depressed by the large number of sales at the lower end. In 2011 the median price for 10 months was $310,000.

As with SFHs, it appears that we have cleared out most of the inventory at the lower price levels.

If you are considering buying or selling a home and have questions about the market and/or current home prices, feel free to contact me on 781.631.1223 or [email protected].

Andrew Oliver is a Realtor with Harborside Realty in Marblehead.