Steve Medeiros, President of the Massachusetts Association of Realtors, on the latest local real estate numbers (14:59).

Tom Moroney:

I'm going to spend the next half hour on real estate, why? Well, a new batch of data out today for the month of June 2021 And we're seeing some familiar trends here in just a moment we'll talk to Steven Medeiros of the Massachusetts Association of Realtors and he'll join us, but I just want to get a few headlines out here before we get Steven to the discussion. Median sales prices hit record levels again in June according to their data, the median price for a single family home was $578-$500 an increase of 27.1% kind of prices rose by 25% to a half million dollars inventory for single family homes down 51.6% that's a record low according to the Massachusetts Association of Realtors, condos down by 37.9%. So, Steve Medeiros, thanks for being with us, a lot of familiar trends here, but here's where I want to go with this Greater Boston Association of Realtors which just includes that area close into Boston not the whole state. They're seeing similar trends except in this case, they're seeing a little more inventory, out there in the market can you explain the differences here between state versus Greater Boston.

STEVE:

Yeah, I can't explain the difference between Greater Boston and the state right now, I'm not sure why the difference. That's an area that I don't personally work in, I'd have to seek with our Boston President.

Tom Moroney:

Why don't you then take it where you will, what do you see in this data, I've said familiar trends, what do you say?

STEVE:

Yeah, So the key thing and the numbers are important for what we're dealing with right now, when you say, you know how much we're down, this is comparing it to the same time frame a year ago, and for everyone who can remember what was going on a year ago, we're in a much different state I think than we are right now as far as you know we were just kind of learning about the pandemic, what was going on. So, you know the amount of homes that were on the market back then, people would just go and look in. That's when we kind of saw the big jump in sales, happened towards the end of the summer and into the fall market and pretty much stays steady throughout the rest of the year. What I've been keeping an eye on is, where are we, from month to month right now because it's hard to compare where we were a year ago, and the positive sign and this is a good thing, especially for sellers who have been sitting on the fence waiting to put the home on the market, because they have a need to find a place to go, they're now realizing okay there is more inventory coming on. It just doesn't stay on the market long so you know we look at new listings in April. We're at 6700. We had 5300 and in May, and then in June we had 77, almost 7800 new listings. Now, the inventory levels didn't raise much. But, you know, because most of those properties were under agreement really quickly, but at least if someone's looking and they've been waiting on the fence to sell and advise themselves, now's a good time to do that which will also add more inventory on the market for those buyers who are just fine.

Joe Shortsleeve:

talking with us, Steve Medeiros, he's the President of the Massachusetts Association of Realtors for 2021, talking about numbers that are just out for June. I guess you know, a lot of people in your line of work, wouldn't describe what happened over the past year as normal right i mean it wasn't necessarily what we'd call a healthy market but nonetheless, I guess my question is, what signs are you seeing for well a cooling off or overturn to some sense of normalcy, especially as you look at the statewide numbers?

STEVE:

Sure, so the one thing that we have seen is that you know the inventory, the month to find inventory has picked up a little bit. You can't it's not a lot, but when you look at where we were several months ago, we were at like point 6.7 months to five inventory, and now we're at point nine again, point nine is still not a lot, but that means that the inventory level is creeping up a little bit. But keep in mind, you know, I don't think anyone really wants to see inventory what they want to be at home on the market, and then people be able to purchase those homes. So right now we still have a lot of buyers out there compared to what we have to listing, and, you know, the people who are out there, the buyers they need to be patient, to what their game plan is with their realtor and make sure that they stick to that game plan and until they find what they can find and not go outside of what they're comfortable with. When you look at closed sales, closed sales have increased each month, you know, we went from 3900 to 4500 to 6200 so, it shows that the market is moving and it's not stagnating and that means that transactions are happening and people are able to buy homes and so a lot of people tend to key in on one or two items in the numbers and when you look at overall, transactions are happening that means people are able to buy homes.

Tom Moroney:

I hear what you're saying, Steve, Steve Medeiros President of the Massachusetts Association of Realtors, there are little signs and they are little, that things are loosening up a bit but let's go back to the one of the major takeaways here. Inventory for single family homes down 51.6% year over year, that means that this June compared to last June 2020, there is half as much inventory on the market right? I mean that's the inventory has been cut in half. My question to you is, you know, we're not building, I mean construction starts are still down or they're meager at this point, so the only way to get this thing really kickstarted, and this is the question, is it those sellers who are on the fence so those sellers who have decided I'm not listing at this point, I don't know why you wouldn't but…

STEVE:

Yeah, again, I have a client right now who I'm working with and they, they don't need to sell, but they'd like to sell to their council where they are but they have the avenue if they could find a nicer newer home and they're just waiting for that right place to come on before they leave. I'm talking about a seller someone who's looking to sell it and buy something.

Tom Moroney: 

How would you know when you're going to get in, we have anecdotes and Joe and I can share a cup, I'm sure you have some, you get, you know, hundreds of 1000s of dollars above asking price. What is this and to use the cliche is a no brainer, isn't it if I had something to sell, I'd be selling.

STEVE:

Yeah, for them, they're in a spot where they're comfortable, and so they are in a unique circumstance where, if they find what they really want to find then they'll make the move, if they don't want to they don't. They're not going to document this is gonna stay where they are, and that's not the average, you know home sell a home buyer most people are selling because they have a need to either upsize or downsize and most buyers are buying for that same reason and so right now the way the market is, you know, it's, you need to be on top of it all the time, you can't casually be looking and hope to find what you want, you have to be consistently active, aware of what's coming on, because when it does come on, you need to be able to look at it quickly, be able to make a determination that you want to get into the business of making an offer on that particular property and so it's a job right now you have to really be focused on if you're looking to do that and so that's really what it comes down to, but this particular person, they're kind of one of those people that they will eventually in the market when they find the right thing and so you always gonna have that segment of the population. But in general I think the market is, like I said it's still strong inventories, you know, when your listeners are coming on and sales are increasing that means that the market is able to keep up with it, which is at least a good thing. We just need to see more production over the long term of new housing, like you talked about the housing starts. And we fortunately, we have a built in supporting for years, the governor, like we talked about two months ago. They passed that though the end of the year but that's going to take time for that production to get moving within the state, and hopefully, you know once we can get some of that new production on or you know create accessory dwelling units and other things that will allow for more housing. The state needs it badly as a whole.

Joe Shortsleeve:

Steve Medeiros is our guest, Massachusetts Association of Realtors. Well, I mean, it seems like that antidote you just brought up is, is really what is the crux of the problem here because you have somebody who wants to sell, they like to see the numbers of, you know the property's worth at this point, but where are they gonna go? you know, and and I guess my question to you as I listened to you I was saying okay, isn't that part of the inventory problem at this point because people don't want to sell because unless they're going to get in an RV and drive around the country for a couple of years, they've got no place to go.

STEVE:

Yeah, so that's and that's the problem is I think there's a lot of that. I think it's a false narrative. What really is happening like I had one seller, they put their home on the market, and they had a contingency that they needed to find suitable housing. The buyer, obviously, there's a lot of buyers out there, they want to find homes so they're willing to give that person some time. They gave him about a month and a half, they found a great home that they're really happy with. And they already had their home under agreement and they were able to do that. So there's a lot of opportunities for sellers to do that, that he then needs to buy, and, you know, I think, when they realize that that's an opportunity, and they are educated on that, then they are willing to make that jump. And that's been the case throughout, you know, the housing market, not just this year, and any year, when you list your home for sale, you need a place to go, you need to be able to find something else and the difference is that things aren't hanging on the market, you don't be able to look through a bunch of properties, you need to actually, you know, have some patience to be able to look at what's coming on and be on top of it to be able to wait till a property comes on to identify it's hard to identify first.

Tom Moroney:

All right well, Steve, you know, here's what I'm gonna say I mean Joe makes a good point. If you, you're sitting on a property you know you're gonna make a profit, you're gonna make above asking above the list, but you don't have anywhere else to go. Okay, that's fine, but what I don't think Joe's taking into account enough, is the role of greed in. How much does greed play a part in this market, I mean, I'm thinking, greed is a huge, but if I was thinking a million dollars above asking, I would live in a tent for a while, so I'm just saying.

STEVE:

Yes, so, I think, I don't know if I would say that I would look at it as opportunity. So if someone has a unique opportunity to make a considerable amount of money than what they were thinking they would get, then maybe they take some of that money and they go and they rent until they can find the next place.

Tom Moroney:

Knock on the door at the Catholic Church and ask the pastor if I could move into the basement. That's just me. 

STEVE:

Oh, maybe he would let you do that, I'm not sure he'd have to check with him.

Joe Shortsleeve:

Steve Medeiros, he's the president of the Massachusetts Association of Realtors for 2021. We do appreciate you taking time and sharing some of those thoughts with us.

To listen to the full interview from source, click here.