Massachusetts Association of Realtors President Steve Medeiros on the latest real estate numbers
Kim Carrigan:
All right, and thanks very much so we want to continue our conversation about real estate, you know COVID is meant that a lot of would-be real estate sellers and buyers, got out of the market, and when a house would come up in the last 16-18 months, there's been frenzy, and the seller has usually been the winner, they get their asking price, or they get more than their asking price. So, the Warren group released their August numbers and sales were down a bit here in the state of Massachusetts, but prices still high year over year. So, what does that mean for the future, and is this still a frenzied market? We're joined by Massachusetts Association of Realtors President Steve Medeiros, Steve it's good to have you with us. So let's talk a little bit about what you see in these August numbers, you know, again sales down just a bit but year over year, median price of a home in the state is up.
STEVE:
Yeah, so pretty much what you said, I mean if you look at where we were last year, we had just kind of come out of the pandemic and actually i should say shutdown not pandemic and coming out of that shutdown, the market started to pick up quite a bit. And so we've seen consistent increases, you know, from last year to this year. And the inventory picked up a little bit, it's still not where we were just before the shutdown. But we have picked up some inventory so we're in, we're in decent shape. And I think, overall, I think, you know, when I was talking with a different president from around the state from the local associations, you know, they said the same thing that they thought of a bit of a pause or a bit of a slowdown and in the summer but that's kind of a typical thing in the summer which slows down a little bit, and then you see a ticket, pick back up in September, and we've already started to see that
Joe Shortsleeve:
Steve Medeiros, President of the Massachusetts Association of Realtors as our guests. Okay, well, You got me right there with your very last comment, you're already starting to see that, what are you already starting to see in September?
STEVE:
Yeah, so we don't have numbers to go by obviously because we pull our numbers to the end of the month but just anecdotally like in speaking with, you know we have a call every month and so, you know, what do you, what are you seeing just across the board from each association in the state. They all said that, you know, they saw things slowed down a bit, they saw a lot of people saying, ‘Oh, I'm going to hold off because I'm going on vacation’, more people that are looking that we're buying, kind of putting a pause on saying hey I'm gonna do this I'm gonna do that because I think the summer came and they wanted to get up and do things that come down for a bit. And then, now they've seen a lot more activity they see an increase in showing activity and listening activity. You know, in the beginning of the month, we had spoken in the first few weeks and so we'll see if that continues. You know I think really, when I get to the end of October will really be able to look back and say ‘okay it was the summer’. Just a slight pause, and a typical seasonal slowdown, or was it a, you know, a longer slowdown that, you know starting to kind of create some normalization in the market.
Kim Carrigan:
Well, you talked about the fact that there is more inventory out there, more people have decided that it's safe to go ahead and put their houses on the market. Talk to us about those inventory numbers and where you see that going.
STEVE:
Sure. So I mean, just to give an example last August, we had 6500 listings, new listings come on the market. And we exceed 300 close sales and we had a total home sale of inventory was 80,000. If we look at now and this current, this past August. We were down from 6500 down to 5900 from new listings so just, you know, Maybe about a little, under a little over 500 drop of homes for sale was 8500, you know, back last year, and now we're at 5300 So, it is the last, but the months of July which is what I'm looking at, back in February, we were at a point six months to find inventory so basically half a month supply of inventory, and right now we're at 1.1. So, that shows that we picked up some of that, that's a positive sign as far as you know, creating a little bit of normalization and eliminating a little bit of the frenzy, but it's still a strong market and you'll look at the percentage of original price received for a house is there at 103.8% of the purchase of the original price is what they got for a purchase price so people are still out there bidding and inventory is coming off the market.
Joe Shortsleeve:
talking to Steven Medeiros, President Massachusetts Association realtors, okay you talked about August, perhaps being well you know a blip and then September things are back at the back of that frenzy zone, but in the August numbers there are a couple of stats that caught my attention. One says that sales on the island of Nantucket dropped 55% And then in Barnstable county they dropped some 35%, Is that a blip or is there something else going on here?
STEVE:
I wish I could give you some better details on those particular market. That's not a market that I work at on a regular basis, and I'm kind of more versed in what's happening statewide, so I can't really speak to those right now but I could definitely get you some information on that next.
Joe Shortsleeve:
How about this, maybe you can help out Anne. Anne, she does the news here at Bloomberg. Her and her husband have been looking for a house for over a year, and every day, one story is more horrifying than the next. So jump in I mean, seriously as a the president, what kind of advice would you give Ann?.
Anne Mostue:
It's such an emotional thing, right? and I think what's really tough, is when you fall in love with a house that you've seen online and it goes before you can see it, and that's what's happening so often with me I'll find a place that I think is perfect. And then, even the open houses are canceled because somebody swooped in.
STEVE:
Yeah, you know, and unfortunately, that's kind of some of what's happened in the market right now. Are you working with somebody exclusively?
Anne Mostue:
Yeah.
STEVE:
Okay, so if you are, you know, I would talk with them, and just ask them for strategies and a plan, hopefully you have a plan of what your goal is, what you're trying to accomplish and it sounds to me like at least you haven't done something crazy and gone, you know, above what you're looking at is that sound, the fact that we're looking for a year isn't ideal, but the fact that you haven't made a bad decision is actually a positive thing
Kim Carrigan:
absolutely Steve we got to leave it right there and thanks for the advice for and and thank you.
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