A Total of 4,422 Single-Family Homes Were Sold in Massachusetts Last Month
There were fewer single-family homes sold here last month than in August 2024, the first time since April that the Bay State’s housing market has posted a year-over-year decline in sales.
The Warren Group reported that there were 4,422 single-family homes sold in Massachusetts last month, down 2.1% compared to August 2024. The median sale price for August increased 4.2% over last year to $658,200, but was down compared to this July, which Warren Group Associate Publisher Cassidy Norton said is “the usual pattern.”
Just as she did a month ago, Norton said Tuesday morning that prospective homebuyers who get into the market now “are likely to see lower prices and reductions from earlier in the year.” She pointed to interest rates being down at the moment as something that could help both buyers and sellers decide to enter the market.
As of Sept. 11, the average 30-year fixed mortgage rate was 6.35%, according to data from Freddie Mac compiled by the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis. That’s down from an average of just under 7% at the start of the year and the lowest average rate in almost a year. But it is still higher than the middle of last September, when the average 30-year mortgage rate was 6.2%.
A year after Gov. Maura Healey signed a housing law that she and other Democrats expect will help the Bay State chip away at a housing shortage estimated to be at least 200,000 units by 2030, sales on the single-family residence market are up slightly.
The 28,210 sales notched so far this year represent a 2.7% increase over the same point in 2024, The Warren Group said. But August shrunk the gap between 2024 sales and 2025 sales — through July, this year’s sales had been running ahead of 2024’s level by 3.6%.
The median single-family home sale price has increased 4% so far this year to $645,000.
On the condominium side of the real estate market, there were 1,893 sales last month, a 4.9% increase over August 2024’s sales. The median condo sale price for the month was $526,000, down 3.1% compared to a year earlier.
Through eight months of 2025, there have been 13,146 condo sales — up 3.5% compared to the same period in 2024. At the same time, the year-to-date median sale price is flat at $545,000.
“The condo market underwent a bit of an adjustment earlier this year, and purchases made in June and July are reflected in the August numbers,” Norton said. “For the first time since 2011, the condo market had four months of inventory in May. That’s exactly what the market needs to moderate prices, and is reflected in an increase in sales versus August of last year, as well as drop in the median sale price.”
