Sales and prices of single-family homes in the city of Worcester rose steadily in March, surpassing state and county trends.
The median sale price in Worcester rose to $350,750 in March, up from $306,000 in March 2021, marking a 14.6% jump, according to Wednesday’s report from The Warren Group, a Peabody-based research firm.
Year-to-date, median home prices in Worcester rose 12.6% to $348,950.
There were 96 single-family homes sold in the city in March, 10.3% more than in March 2021. Since the start of the year, there have been 254 sales in Worcester, compared with 244 this time a year ago, an increase of 4.1% this year.
In Worcester County as a whole, the average sale price also rose steadily, hitting $380,000 in March, which is a 10.1% spike from last March when the median price was $345,000. The year-to-date figures had a similar increase rate of 11.9%, from $335,000 to $375,000.
The number of sales dropped countywide, with 507 homes sold in March, a 4.9% decrease from 2021. This year, there have been 1,445 home sales in Worcester County, 5.2% lower than the 1,524 recorded by this time last year.
Massachusetts’ median sale price, similar to Worcester County, rose 12% in March, with the year-to-date average increasing 10.9%. The median sale price in March for the entire state was $515,000. There were 3,591 sales last month, which is 6.9% lower than March 2021, and there have been 9,711 sales in total this year, 9.7% lower than the first three months of 2021.
“Housing affordability is rapidly waning,” said Tim Warren, CEO of The Warren Group, in a statement. “First-time homebuyers are flocking to rural communities and blue-collar cities to take advantage of attractive purchase prices.”
Home inventory has been shrinking for a decade, Warren said. On Friday, mortgage rates in the U.S. hit 5%, the highest they’ve been in 11 years, adding to the issue of housing unaffordability and designed to slow sales and price growth in the housing market.
