Unprecedented 2020 spike in Central Mass. home prices likely to carry forward in 2021

“The pandemic has sent some residents fleeing from a few of the country’s highest-price markets such as New York City and the San Francisco Bay Area. Greater Boston has so far avoided that fate, perhaps at least in part because of its reliance on colleges, hospitals and life sciences companies whose work largely can’t be done remotely, said Steve Medeiros, the president of the Massachusetts Association of Realtors.”

“You’re going to definitely see a strong housing market in 2021,” Medeiros said. “It’s not going to change with demand and all of that.”

Gov. Charlie Baker has pushed for more new-home construction and to make it easier for projects to win needed zoning changes at the community level, but those changes, even if enacted, won’t make a significant difference soon, Medeiros said. Costs of building new homes will remain high, often forcing high sale prices for anything not built with affordability restrictions.