Massachusetts housing inventory: very little available at lower prices

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August generally does not see a lot of new properties coming to the market, while anxious buyers are inclined to snap up what is available before the start of the school year. Thus, supply should tighten, at least in theory. And as the last table in this post shows, the inventory of SFHs under $500k for all 17 North Shore cities and towns I follow, represented just 2.1 months of supply at the beginning of September, whereas 6 months is generally regarded as being a market in equilibrium.

Here’s the table for Single Family Homes for the North Shore cities and towns and also for Essex County and Massachusetts:

Source: MLS, Oliver Reports

Source: MLS, Oliver Reports

Note that supply remains very tight in Beverly, Danvers, Peabody and Salem, while Manchester continues to have a significant supply of houses for sale.

I have commented over the last several months about the low level of sales at the higher end. Manchester has the highest median price of the cities and towns I monitor, so it is not surprising that it also has the largest supply. To see if this theory works I checked supply against median price more widely:

Source: MLS, Oliver Reports

Source: MLS, Oliver Reports

Not a perfect match, but the towns with the tightest supply generally have a lower median price. Lynnfield would be one that sticks out as tight supply with a high median price.

Pure supply numbers can be misleading if one doesn’t know the sample size, so here are the detailed September numbers:

Source: MLS, Oliver Reports

Source: MLS, Oliver Reports

I think all these numbers are large enough to be a reliable guide.

One final table; supply by price:

Source: MLS, Oliver Reports

Source: MLS, Oliver Reports

I think this table, more than any other, demonstrates just how tight supply is under $750,000, and also confirms that the higher end is not – yet?- seeing the same buying activity.

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.