State of the Market - Suffolk County (Boston area), MA

[Charlie MacPherson]

The 2019 1st Quarter numbers are out for Boston, Chelsea, Revere and Winthrop (Suffolk County).

The average price is up by 7.8% vs Q1 2018 and there are slightly more homes on the market (+0.6%).

With only 1.4 months of supply, Suffolk County is still an extreme seller's market.  (Anything less than 6 months is a seller's market and anything more than 7 is a buyer's market).  

Days on market are up to 55 DOM, measured from the date a property is listed to the date that it's closed.  Considering that most loans for retail buyers take 30-45 days to close, that's a market that's still moving very quickly.

I was a little wary of that "homes for sale" number. It seems too low, so as a double check, I just looked at MLS for active SFR listings county wide. There are 154 on the market, so it could (and should) be right.

My read on all of this is that the rise in prices doesn't show any sign of slowing, especially as inventory remains extremely low.  Those who waited on the sidelines to buy in hopes of a market downturn just lost another 7.8%.   With all of the new development going on in Boston, I don't know of any reason to think that downturn is coming soon.

If you're going to buy or invest in Boston, in my opinion, sooner is better.