Breaking Down the Numbers
2022 was a year of change, and we hope your seatbelts were fastened. The Fed’s involvement and desire to slow inflation was successful in cooling the real estate market. The first half of the year saw a very heated market like 2021, while the second half of the year saw the rate of growth slow down to pre-COVID levels.
Even with interest rate changes, we did still see some notable growth in our Massachusetts market. Slide 1 of the year-end single-family report shows that, overall, the single-family median sales price rose to $575,000 over $530,000 last year, and the average sales price rose to $721,284 compared to $662,975 in 2021.
We did see a 15% drop in units sold compared to 2021, owing to a combination of higher interest rates, affordability for buyers, and also a continued lack of inventory to help with demand that is still in the marketplace. Even with the government involvement to raise rates, I still hear stories daily of well-priced properties receiving multiple offers in some markets. The demand is there, but sellers need to be realistic in the current environment to position themselves to stand out in the market.
Average days to offer remained constant at 19 days when you review the entire year. The beginning of 2022 was very different from the end of 2022, but the average DTO stayed consistent with 2021. Looking at slide 9 of the year-end report, you can see the difference in DTO from Q4 (24 days) compared to Q2 (14 days) and Q3 (17 days).
Also, I wanted to draw your attention to slide 5 which shows sales volume in the market being slightly down compared to 2021. Average sales price appreciation has helped keep volume numbers high while units sold numbers were down.
