Home prices spike 11% in Worcester County, 6% statewide

PHOTOS/GRANT WELKER A 15-home second phase of the Wachusett Valley Estates is now being built off Bullard Street in Holden, a town among those adding the most new housing in Worcester County.

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By Grant Welker

Median home sale prices in Worcester County hit $307,000 in June, a 10.9-percent increase from the previous year, according to a report by the Boston real estate firm Warren Group Wednesday.

Statewide, prices hit a median of $420,000, the first time they surpassed $400,000 in a month, the Warren Group said. The year-to-year increase across Massachusetts was 6.3 percent.

The record-high prices come as an already-tight market has ever-lower inventory. The number of sales in Worcester County and statewide are down more than 3 percent this year, and they're down nearly 7 percent in Middlesex County.

June prices in the largest Central Massachusetts communities rose most sharply in Framingham (up 14.3 percent to $480,000), Leominster (up 12.1 percent to $282,500) and Marlborough (up 10.7 percent to $405,000). Prices were flat in Worcester at $230,000 and fell by 6.5 percent for the month in Milford, where prices were $339,900.

Among the other largest Central Massachusetts communities, Shrewsbury prices rose by 9.4 percent to $465,000, Fitchburg rose 3.4 percent to $200,000, and Natick fell 4 percent to $582,500.

A separate report released Wednesday by the Massachusetts Association of Realtors said median home prices statewide in June rose to $430,000, the highest since the association began keeping records in 2004.

The association said that median prices rose 6.8 percent year-over-year, while the number of sales fell by 5.4 percent to 6,589. Homes lasted an average of 48 days on the market.