Central Massachusetts single-family home sales were up slightly in March, but are lagging behind 2025 figures through the first quarter.
Worcester County saw 378 sales in March, up from 338 in February. Middlesex County saw 537 sales, up from 478.
Despite the climb, both counties are behind their 2025 pace in year-to-date sales, with Worcester County seeing 3.5% fewer and Middlesex County sales down 1.1% year to date, according to data provided by Peabody-based The Warren Group.
This follows a statewide trend, as Massachusetts has 6,937 sales through the first quarter, down 4.2% from 2025. A backlog in sales caused by this year’s nasty winter may be to blame, Cassidy Norton, associate publisher and media relations director of The Warren Group, said in an analysis accompanying the data.
“The market in January or February when these purchases went under agreement was remarkably slow, due to some truly nasty weather in those months,” Norton said. “That resulted in fewer closed sales in March. Realtors report inventory continued to grow in March and April, buoyed by sales delayed by the weather as well as the beginning of the traditional spring market.”
The median price in Worcester County was $360,000, down 3% from March 2025. Middlesex County’s median saw a deeper decline, dropping 11.8% to $582,000.
The city of Worcester had 54 sales, down four from last March. The median price was relatively flat, declining .5% to $436,250. Leominster saw 13 sales, the same as last March, with a median sales price of $490,000. Fitchburg compiled 23 sales, up from 16, with a median price that increased 14.6% to $429,900.
Natick’s median price rose 18.9% to $1.15 million, the result of 27 sales compared to 24 in March 2025. Framingham’s sales nearly doubled, climbing to 34 from 18, with a median price decrease of 5.1%, to $725,500.
Through the first quarter of the year, condominium sales in Central Massachusetts have been sluggish. Worcester County has seen 213 sales, 31.5% fewer than last year, while Middlesex County has seen 913, down 11%.
Eric Casey is the managing editor at Worcester Business Journal, who primarily covers the real estate and banking & finance industries.
