Massachusetts home prices up 3.4% to $600,000

By Colin A. Young

Fewer single-family homes were sold in Massachusetts last month compared to a year prior, but real estate market analysts at The Warren Group said Tuesday that the first quarter of 2025 gave them hope that inventory pressures are receding slightly.

There were 2,460 single-family home sales in Massachusetts in March, a 4.2% decrease from March 2024’s 2,569 sales, The Warren Group reported. The median price for the homes sold in March was $600,000, up 3.4% over last March.

As Massachusetts uses a new housing production law to chip away at what is expected to be a 220,000-plus housing unit shortage by 2030, single-family home sales in the first three months of 2025 were up 3% over the same period in 2024, and The Warren Group says that could be a favorable sign for homebuyers.

“Hopefully that’s an indication that the number of homes on the market is increasing and easing the inventory crunch somewhat,” Associate Publisher Cassidy Norton said. “Given the current state of the federal government, it’s impossible to predict what interest rates will do, or whether inflation will continue to constrain the buying power of prospective homeowners.”

As of April 10, the average 30-year fixed mortgage rate was 6.62%, according to data from Freddie Mac compiled by the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis. That’s virtually unchanged since the start of March and down just slightly from one year ago, when the average 30-year mortgage rate was 6.88%.

The median single-family home sale price so far in 2025 has increased 5.3% year-over-year to $585,000, The Warren Group said.

The dynamic of chronically-limited inventory and always-escalating prices has played a major role in driving up the cost of living in Massachusetts.

“Our economic future and our livelihood, our growth as a state depends on our ability to build more homes,” Gov. Maura Healey said last month on GBH Radio. She added, “It’s the most important thing that we can do as a state.”

On the condominium side of the market, sales were down 3% in March, falling from 1,431 sales in March 2024 to 1,388 condo sales in March 2025. The median condo sale price decreased 1.5% last month to $542,000, down from $550,000 in March 2024, The Warren Group said.

Norton pointed out that last month was the first time since April 2023 that the median condo sale price decreased, calling it “welcome news for would-be condo buyers.”