The Spring market is finally here! But where are the listings? Read on for our data driven insights as to what is going on in the market.
Inventory down 33%? Yes.
March was certainly an interesting month for the Boston Real Estate market! While we always experience limited inventory, March is typically considered the kick off for The Spring market, where we see inventory increase substantially – particularly if the weather is nice. Between February and March of 2022, 300 homes came on the market. Contrast this with March of 2023, where only 200 homes came on the market - a decrease of over 33%. You may hear on the news that home sales have decreased and that is certainly true, BUT this is not due to lack of buyer demand..it's simply a lack of supply. THE TAKEAWAY - There are plenty of buyers willing to buy homes – despite higher mortgage rates – we just don’t have any homes to sell them.
Analyzing the numbers further in the South End for Q1 2022 vs. 2023, we have 30% fewer homes available between $1M - $2M, 44% fewer homes between $2M - $3M and 42% fewer homes available between $3M - $4M. While this is frustrating for buyers, it is shaping up to be an opportune time for Sellers for the first time in the last 9 months. TAKEAWAY – Seller’s looking to sell fast have an advantage at this time in this particular market.
Our 5 year low on housing supply is a combination of many factors - rate increases yielding less buying power, limited new developments and the influx of biotech, technology and health care workers over the past 5 years. We now find ourselves with too many buyers and not enough homes to sell. As a result, we are seeing more and more properties trade off market due to buyer’s eagerness to lock a property down before it hits the open market, thereby further reducing active, on-market inventory.
The Compass Private Exclusive and Coming Soon give Compass seller’s an edge in a pre-market scenario and often allow Seller’s to test higher price points without accumulating days on market or having to experience a price change if the selected off market price is not well received by the pre-market buyers. It allows us, as listing agents, to adjust pricing if needed prior to being on the active MLS market. For Compass buyers it provides them access to listings that other competing buyers do not have access to. The TAKEAWAY FOR SELLERS – sell off market and dictate terms and price or adjust pricing as needed. The TAKEAWAY FOR BUYERS – access to off market properties and less competition.
