January is typically a slow month for real estate. People are coming up for air after the holidays, and the early part of the month generally sees low activity. By late January, in a market such as ours (with low inventory), things start to pick up. In February and March we typically see more homes come on the market, with April and May being peak “spring market.”
Locally we are seeing very low inventory levels. Despite strong prices, sellers are not flocking to list their homes (note the selling price compared to listing price ratio…especially Holliston!). This has been going on for several years. As you look at the reports below, notice the number of homes on the market, compared to the number of homes sold and pending. In many markets (not all, Dover & Wellesley being the exceptions…we are seeing a lot of the very high end homes sitting on the market in these towns) we see inventory levels that represent about a month’s worth of activity (sales + pending). Anything under 5-6 months of inventory is considered a seller’s market…so right now there is no question, the market is in the seller’s favor!
Here are the relevant market statistics for January, 2017 for Dover, Medfield, Norfolk, Walpole, Wellesley and Norfolk Country, along with Holliston, Natick, Sherborn and Middlesex County (scroll down, in order listed above). Note that this represents only one month’s worth of data, so for a town like Sherborn, with only 2 sales in January, it is less relevant than towns with more transactions. Each month these reports will be cumulative (YTD or quarterly reports) and the data will become more useful. If you have any questions about the data, questions about the market in general, or if you are interested in discussing buying or selling a home, email me (Lvandore@LandmarkNE.com), call me (508-308-4436) or send me a message via Facebook messenger. I am always happy to talk to you!
Interested in real estate and the local real estate market? Click HERE to sign up for my monthly real estate newsletter, a round-up of relevant real estate news and current local market analysis. Unsubscribe at any time, and rest assured that I will never share your email information.