Our December 2022 MA | NH Housing Report

January 24, 2023

Massachusetts Home Sales Down 32.4%

Sales are down 32.4% year over year, with December 2022 at 5,951 vs. 8,806 last December. Sales are down across all categories.

Single families: 5,622 (2021) | 3,838 (2022)
Condominiums: 2,208 (2021) | 1,568 (2022)
Multi-families: 976 (2021) | 545 (2022)

Average prices have continued their rise with another year-over-year increase of 6.2%, now at $619,412. Prices increased in every category.

Single families: $650,465 (2021) | $677,883 (2022)
Condominiums: $445,283 (2021) | $488,457 (2022)
Multi-families: $634,289 (2021) | $690,286 (2022)

Homes Listed For Sale:

The number of homes listed is down by 26.9% when compared to December 2021.

2022: 2,528
2021: 3,460
2020: 4,140

Pending Home Sales:

The number of homes placed under contract is down by 26.4% compared to December 2021.

2022: 3,666
2021: 4,984
2020: 5,645

Price Reductions:

The number of price reductions is down 21.8% when compared to December 2021. Sellers who haven’t attracted much interest to their listing in 30 days are urged to consider adjusting their price. Pricing will be particularly important in the next few months to make sure your listing remains competitive and doesn’t sit on the market through the winter.

- 2022: 122
- 2021: 156
- 2020: 229

New Hampshire Home Sales Down 28.5%

Single-family, condo home sales, and multi-family home sales have all decreased overall by 28.5% when compared to December 2021.

Single families: 1,423 (2021) | 1,028 (2022)
Condominiums: 406 (2021) | 308 (2022)
Multi-families: 141 (2021) | 73 (2022)

Prices overall have continued to increase, now up 6.4% to $482,978 compared to December 2021. Prices increased in every category.

Single families: $482,980 (2021) | $503,882 (2022)
Condominiums: $340,469 (2021) | $418,051 (2022)
Multi-families: $489,503 (2021) | $462,542 (2022)

Homes Listed for Sale:

The number of homes listed is down by 19.6% when compared to December 2021.

2022: 802
2021: 997
2020: 1,132

Pending Home Sales:

The number of homes placed under contract is down by 24.8% when compared to December 2021. Sellers who haven’t attracted much interest to their listing in 30 days are urged to consider adjusting their price. If rates are increasing buyer affordability and they’re still not making offers, an adjustment is likely the next best step.

2022: 948
2021: 1,260
2020: 1,477

Highlights

Timing is everything when selling your home, and the next few months will be the best time to list your home. Anthony predicts that if you wait until spring to list, you may actually sell your home for less than your neighbor who chose to list in the wintertime. Anthony further explains why this is the number one time of year to sell your home in the video.
Listings & pendings were down compared to December 2021. This can mostly be attributed to normal seasonality, but numbers are lower than normal still since would-be sellers are staying put to keep their low rates 2-3% mortgage rate, and may be opting instead to renovate or expand their homes rather than sell.
Mortgage rates remained consistently between about 6-6.5% in the month of December. For many buyers, increased mortgage rates reduced buyer affordability and took many out of the market completely. This can attribute to sales being lowered compared to December 2021.
However, there are several mortgage options available to allow buyers to purchase a home at a lower-than-current rate, such as mortgage assumptions or buydowns. As always, there is a cost to waiting and it is better to be informed and prepared to get into the home you want as soon as possible!
Prices have increased year over year, but the rate of increase is much smaller than what was seen in the beginning of 2022 – for reasons including rising inventory and mortgage rates starting in mid-2022. In Anthony’s 2023 predictions, he explains in depth where he thinks prices will go in 2023.

For weekly updates, visit marealestateupdates.com and nhrealestateupdates.com.

Data provided by Warren Group & MLSPIN for MA, and by NEREN for NH then compared to the prior year.

Additional Resources