Real Estate Market Still Slow in Suburban Boston
Overall, home sales in Sudbury, Mass., fell significantly in 2006. But if you speak to real estate agents in town, you’ll be told that the market is looking up in 2007.
“We’ve had a couple of sales already in January,” said Louis B. Stephan, president of Prudential Ursula M. Stephan Realtors in Sudbury, noting that the Massachusetts housing market is starting to pick up.
Across the state, and particularly in the more affluent Boston suburbs, where prices achieved five straight years of record gains prior to last year, home sales were down sharply in 2006 from 2005 levels.
According to The Warren Group, a company that provides real estate and financial data, single-family home sales fell 13.5 percent in November compared to sales in November 2005.
The good news is that Warren Group statistics show in Sudbury, the drop in sales wasn’t as pronounced as in other towns. From January-November, 219 single family homes sold in Sudbury, compared to 231 during the same time in 2005.
Scott Beane, sales manager of William Raveis Real Estate & Home Services in Sudbury, said other towns in the area are seeing much greater drops in the number of single family homes sold. He cited multiple listing service (MLS) numbers that show towns such as Marlborough saw a decrease in sales of more than 55 percent and Stow saw a decrease of more than 33 percent.
Sellers in Sudbury being more cautious about entering the market in 2006, with Massachusetts mortgage demand tapering off. Stephan said that their motivations are guiding whether they’re deciding to move forward with a sale or wait until the market ticks back up.
“For people relocating, their motivation to sell is high and they will sell to get on with their life,” Stephan said. “These sellers are more willing to negotiate a price with buyers.”
But for baby boomers who are retiring and consider their home as their nest egg, this may not be the right time to sell and they might be able to defer two years to maximize their profit.
In fact, the median price of homes sold in Sudbury in 2006 was down from the previous year, after low mortgage loan rates fueled a five-year boom and subsequent run-up in prices. From January-November, the median home sales price in Sudbury was $625,000, down from $682,000 in 2005.
But agents caution that this dip in home prices shouldn’t spell the end of a great housing market because prices are still much higher than they were a few years ago. There has simply been a correction in home prices and Realtors are encouraged that not only are sellers being more realistic about pricing, but buyers are being more reasonable.
This can only result in more home sales.
Most sellers in Sudbury are eventually selling their homes for about 95 to 96 percent of the asking price. Unfortunately for sellers, they’re waiting a long time to sell their homes and they are facing increased competition.
In fact, the average house in Sudbury is on the market for 216 days, more than double the amount of time from one year ago. There are also more homes on the market - at the end of the year there were 164 listings in Sudbury, compared to 107 listings at the end of 2005.
Agents’ advice to people looking to sell in a buyer’s market is to help close a deal by being realistic about the selling price and paying attention to the condition of their house as it goes on the market.