WHAT'S HAPPENING IN THE MARKET?

MARKET UPDATE

If you are reading national headlines you are seeing reports of MASSIVE drops in sales and sale prices accompanied by HUGE (headlines) spikes in mortgage rates. This is NOT the case in Boston and surrounding suburbs (Brookline, Newton, Weston, Wellesley). On a MACRO (5 year historical) basis these markets are holding steady on a typical upward growth curve on sales prices. On a MICRO level we have seen sales prices retreat from the spikes that we saw between Q2 2021 and the end of Q2 2022. What we have realized is that the anomaly in the. market is not right now - it was the 4 quarters between Q2 2021 and Q2 2022. What is notable is that we are seeing price concessions that will not be reflected in closed sales data or in the media headlines - large credits at closing for multiple years worth of condo fees, extra parking spaces offered, sellers participating in rate buy downs and other price concessions that don't figure into the recorded sales price. 

Our lenders are doing 7 year fixed mortgage at 4% and 30 year fixed mortgages at 5%.

THE BOTTOM LINE is that what you are reading in the national news is not what we see happening in our local market. From a strictly math perspective, right now can be a much more favorable environment to buy a house in comparison to the last 18 months with the right configuration of price, seller concessions and rates. 

In Q3 2022, the market took back much of the sales price spike that occurred in late 2021 and early 2022, and has returned to its typical steady growth cycle, for the two featured neighborhood below.