Central Massachusetts saw a slower-than-usual start to the 2026 single-family real estate season, with January seeing fewer sales in Middlesex and Worcester counties.
Middlesex County saw 463 sales, down 11.4% from the 410 seen in January 2025, and Worcester County was home to 384 sales, a 10.2% decrease from 345 a year ago, according to data released by Peabody-based real estate data firm The Warren Group on Tuesday.
Both these trends mirrored statewide numbers, as Massachusetts saw a 12.7% decline in sales.
While January is traditionally a slow month in the residential real estate market, a lack of available inventory played a role, said Cassidy Norton, associate publisher and media relations director of The Warren Group.
“Home sales that closed in January went under agreement in November or December of last year; the holidays are not a popular time for house-hunting,” Norton said in a Tuesday press release accompanying the data. “The lack of inventory also contributed to a drop in sales and increase in price.”
Perhaps linked to the relative lack of inventory, the statewide median price rose 4.7% to $612,500.
This price climb played out in Worcester County, where the median price climbed 6.8%, from $440,000 to $470,000, while Middlesex County saw a small 2.5% drop in its median price, from $815,000 to $795,000.
The city of Worcester saw both its number of sales and median price decline. January saw 53 sales in the city, compared to 67 last January. The median price fell 4.7% to $410,000.
In North Central Massachusetts, Fitchburg saw 17 sales, one fewer than January 2025, as its median price inched upwards 2.3% to $399,000. Leominster saw 14 sales compared to 16, with its median price climbing 11.2% to $491,500.
In MetroWest, Framingham was home to 19 sales, compared to 28, with its median price falling 2.7% to 680,000. Natick witnessed 20 sales, three more than last January, as its median price fell 14.2% to $879,500.
Eric Casey is the managing editor at Worcester Business Journal, who primarily covers the real estate and banking & finance industries.
