Every homeowner and investor wants to know the same thing - is now a good time to buy/sell? The greater Boston real estate market remains strong, though it’s getting a little bit more interesting.
The answer, regardless of market conditions, is always a resounding it depends. It depends on one’s circumstances and what their short/long-term goals are in real estate.
Real Estate Market Mortgage Rates
Interest rates continue to hover in the high 6s/low 7s. I don’t expect this will change anytime soon. The broader investor market had priced in 3 rate cuts from the Federal Reserve this year, and that optimism has waned as inflation has proved more consistent than initially thought. That said, there is still plenty of optimism that we will see at least one rate cut this year.
Over the past few years, a recency bias has plagued our thinking with interest rates. We assume that because mortgage rates were in the 3s and 4s for the better part of a decade that they will trend back down to those levels. Historically this has not been the case. One can see from the graph below that with mortgage rates, there is hardly a “normal”, but if there were one, it’s probably between 5 - 7.5%.
Inventory is rising - both anecdotally and in the data, which lags this newsletter by about a month. In May, active listing count in the Boston-Cambridge-Newton MSA was 4,947, up 15% year from May 2023. In June, active listing count was 5,917, up 23% from June 2023.
These are dramatic jumps, to be sure, but for some historical context, these numbers are still down 50% and 47% respectively as compared to May and June of 2019.
This checks out anecdotally too - properties are sitting on the market longer and we are seeing more price decreases.
Greater Boston Inventory
Moving full circle - is now a good time to buy? I'm happy to sit down with you, assess your goals, and make some recommendations. Same if you are looking to sell.
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