The median price of a single-family home in Massachusetts rose 11% in April from a year earlier, outpacing gains in the rest of the U.S., as a shortage of homes on the market caused sales to tumble 14% while the COVID-19 pandemic slammed the state.
The median price for a single-family home was $440,000, up from $395,000 a year earlier, according to a report on Wednesday from the Massachusetts Association of Realtors. The U.S. median price for a single-family home in April was $288,700, up 7.3%, according to data from the National Association of Realtors.
Massachusetts residents were living under a “stay at home” advisory from Governor Charlie Baker during April, as the death toll from the pandemic surged to the third-worst in the nation. More than 6,473 people in the state have died from COVID-19 since mid-March, according to Johns Hopkins University.
“The industry will continue to adapt” to doing business in the midst of the worst pandemic in more than a century, said MAR President Kurt Thompson. “While we saw a significant decrease in inventory last month, demand for housing remains high in Massachusetts.”
The number of houses on the market in April fell 38% to 8,525 from 13,682 a year earlier, he said. Only 3,970 new listings were added during the month, a drop of 50% from 2019. The average house sold for 99% of its listing price, compared to 97% a year earlier.
Condominiums saw a bigger hit to sales, along with a larger jump in the median price. Sales tumbled 22% while the median price rose 13% to $432,000, MAR said. Condo inventory fell 30% from a year earlier, the report said.
