Single-family home sales dive 28% in Worcester

Photo | Google Maps Homes in Worcester along Bryn Mawr Avenue

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By Katherine Hamilton

The city of Worcester saw a nearly 28% plunge in single-family home sales in October, following a statewide downward trend, according to Friday’s report from the Peabody-based research firm the Warren Group.

Despite declines in sales, numbers are still higher than October 2019, and real estate prices are continuing to soar across the board.

Worcester fell from 163 home sales in October 2020 to 118 last month. Year-to-date, that is still an increase of 8.2% at 1,114 total sales.

Sale prices have risen 10.7% in the city to an average of $340,000. That’s a 19.2% year-to-date growth from $281,075 to $335,000. It’s $5,000 lower than September’s median sale price.

Worcester County did not see as dramatic a drop in sales, with only two fewer sales last month than in October 2020, marking a 0.9% decline.

Both the year-to-date sales and year-to-date median sale price rose just over 10% in Worcester County. There have been 1,836 total sales in the last 10 months countywide, and the median price for the year is $270,000. In October alone, the median sale price was $290,000, a 0.7% rise from last year’s $288,000.

In Massachusetts as a whole, 5,285 homes were sold last month. That’s a 21.2% decline from October 2020, but a 1% increase from October 2019. The median sale price, now at $500,000, continues to rise steadily. It’s grown 9.9% from last year and 28.5% from 2019, when it was $389,000.

Year-to-date, the state has had a 3.4% increase in sales from the first 10 months of 2020. The year-to-date sale price has grown 15.1%.

The Warren Group’s CEO, Tim Warren, argued these falling numbers are not cause for concern about the local real estate market.

“The second half of 2020 was an extraordinary six months for home sales due to the disruption to the 2020 spring market by COVID-19,” he commented in the report. “Somehow, despite low inventory, high prices and rising interest rates, homes keep selling at pretty good clip, and prices continue their upward climb.”