It has been a brutal spring for anyone trying to buy a house in Greater Boston. Now, experts say there might be some early signs the market is starting to downshift. But if you’re house hunting, they also caution you shouldn’t get your hopes up just yet.Anson Wu has been looking for a home west of Boston for his family of five since the start of this year and has placed more bids than he imagined. “I can’t even remember. My gosh, we’ve looked at countless houses,” he said. “So far, we’ve no luck.”And Wu is a real estate agent, which doesn’t seem to leave much hope for the average homebuyer. “Obviously, this is what I do. But we have all these crazy numbers now happening everywhere,” he said referring to skyrocketing prices. “It’s crazy.”Are bidding wars still common? Wu just lost out on a Sudbury home listed by Denise Garzone. She said that home had multiple offers, but also points out that bidding wars are less intense than just a few months ago. She says most listings get a handful of offers — three or four — compared to more than a dozen which was commonplace just a few months ago.”We’re not seeing the hordes of people come through open houses anymore,” Garzone said. “Far fewer people coming to look at houses. Far fewer offers.”What does it take to get your offer accepted?Even with fewer people bidding, still expect to pay over the asking price and know that most people are waiving contingencies, including a home inspection. Garzone also recommends using an agent with a lot of local connections in the towns at the center of your search area and having all your paperwork lined up. It’s important to remember that with most properties, you’re competing against cold hard cash.Wu was surprised that almost every home they bid on, the winner was someone able to pay cash.”We didn’t expect this would become a new norm, a new reality that you have to have cash to buy a house,” he said.Is there anywhere with less competition?Garzone said there is: Homes that are not move-in ready. A telltale sign is they’ll sit on the market for more than a few days.”For the buyer who’s open to purchasing a home that might need a little bit of work, there’s still some opportunity out there,” Garzone said. Of course that comes with supply chain headaches.Will rising interest rates lower prices?Likely not soon. Now in the five percent range, 30-year mortgage rates are considerably higher than a year ago but historically are still considered low. Garzone thinks the strong Boston economy combined with few houses available will keep demand and prices high. The median price for a single-family home in Massachusetts set another record in April at $560,000, up 30 percent in just two years from $430,000 in April 2020. Those figures are from the Warren Group, which tracks real estate sales in the commonwealth.When will the market look more normal?Wu is hopeful it will normalize before next spring as pent-up demand from the pandemic cools. But Garzone doesn’t think that will happen without some type of dramatic change, especially when it comes to housing supply.”It’s sort of like the perfect storm I think, in my opinion, of over a decade of not building enough housing supply,” Garzone said. “So we have this real problem with housing supply and an enormous young population of buyers who want to get in on the market.”
It has been a brutal spring for anyone trying to buy a house in Greater Boston.
Now, experts say there might be some early signs the market is starting to downshift. But if you’re house hunting, they also caution you shouldn’t get your hopes up just yet.
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Anson Wu has been looking for a home west of Boston for his family of five since the start of this year and has placed more bids than he imagined.
“I can’t even remember. My gosh, we’ve looked at countless houses,” he said. “So far, we’ve [had] no luck.”
And Wu is a real estate agent, which doesn’t seem to leave much hope for the average homebuyer.
“Obviously, this is what I do. But we have all these crazy numbers now happening everywhere,” he said referring to skyrocketing prices. “It’s crazy.”
Are bidding wars still common?
Wu just lost out on a Sudbury home listed by Denise Garzone. She said that home had multiple offers, but also points out that bidding wars are less intense than just a few months ago. She says most listings get a handful of offers — three or four — compared to more than a dozen which was commonplace just a few months ago.
“We’re not seeing the hordes of people come through open houses anymore,” Garzone said. “Far fewer people coming to look at houses. Far fewer offers.”
What does it take to get your offer accepted?
Even with fewer people bidding, still expect to pay over the asking price and know that most people are waiving contingencies, including a home inspection. Garzone also recommends using an agent with a lot of local connections in the towns at the center of your search area and having all your paperwork lined up. It’s important to remember that with most properties, you’re competing against cold hard cash.
Wu was surprised that almost every home they bid on, the winner was someone able to pay cash.
“We didn’t expect this would become a new norm, a new reality that you have to have cash to buy a house,” he said.
Is there anywhere with less competition?
Garzone said there is: Homes that are not move-in ready. A telltale sign is they’ll sit on the market for more than a few days.
“For the buyer who’s open to purchasing a home that might need a little bit of work, there’s still some opportunity out there,” Garzone said. Of course that comes with supply chain headaches.
Will rising interest rates lower prices?
Likely not soon. Now in the five percent range, 30-year mortgage rates are considerably higher than a year ago but historically are still considered low. Garzone thinks the strong Boston economy combined with few houses available will keep demand and prices high. The median price for a single-family home in Massachusetts set another record in April at $560,000, up 30 percent in just two years from $430,000 in April 2020. Those figures are from the Warren Group, which tracks real estate sales in the commonwealth.
When will the market look more normal?
Wu is hopeful it will normalize before next spring as pent-up demand from the pandemic cools. But Garzone doesn’t think that will happen without some type of dramatic change, especially when it comes to housing supply.
“It’s sort of like the perfect storm I think, in my opinion, of over a decade of not building enough housing supply,” Garzone said. “So we have this real problem with housing supply and an enormous young population of buyers who want to get in on the market.”