Real Estate
Belmont Home Sales Fall While Prices Jump Mid-Way Through Year
Activity hurt by a lack of inventory.
At the mid-point of the year, single-family home sales in Belmont are lower than during the same six months last year, countering the trend where state-wide sales numbers are rising, according to a Boston real-estate firm.
Yet it appears that the "Town of Homes"' downturn has more to do with the lack of supply then it has to do with buyers shying away from Belmont.
Comparing the first six months of 2012 and 2013, Belmont saw 83 properties sold this year vs. 87 in 2012, a nearly five percent fall off, according to the Warren Group, which compiles real estate information.
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State wide, single-family sales are up a minuscule one-tenth of one percent. From January to June this year, a total of 21,659 single-family homes have sold, compared to 21,633 during the same period a year ago.
But the fall off, according to real estate sales professionals, has more to do with a lack of housing coming on the market.
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According to the Massachusetts Association of Realtors, there is a 4.7-month supply of single-family homes for sale in June. The National Association of Realtors states that a balanced market typically has about a six-month supply. Anything less than that tips the market in favor of sellers.
“If we don’t have the inventory to sell, we won’t be able to continue improving,” said Kimberly Allard-Moccia, the president of the Massachusetts Association of Realtors and broker-owner of Century 21 Professionals in Braintree.
And while sales fell, the final median price of Belmont homes rose by double digits – $765,000 vs. $679,000 – up 13 percent in 2013, compared to 2012.
The year-to-date median sales price in Massachusetts has risen more than 12 percent to $315,000, up from $281,000 during the same period last year.
On the condo front, Belmont saw a 20 percent decrease in sales over the same six months between 2012 to 2013, 58 vs. 46.
Unlike single-family homes, condo median prices actually fell by 15 percent – $435,000 from $513,500 – compared to the same time period last year.
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