2023 Berkshire County real estate sales year-to-date in a nutshell: inventory down, prices up.

The operative word is “down” for inventories, sales and dollar volume, but differences among areas of Berkshire County do exist, as do opportunities..

Decreasing mortgage rates bode well for a potentially active spring market and will ramp up an already hyper competitive market while inventory issues remain unabated.

Throughout Berkshire County, the number of transactions to date in 2023 is down, as is the total dollar volume transacted.

The 2022 market did well. The overall market will be challenging in the year ahead but now has many hopeful influencing factors.

Overall, residential and multi-family sales fell 10 percent, but pockets of strong and fast sales exist in some parts of the county and at some price points.

Three factors mainly affect mortgage rates in today’s market: expectations on inflation, economic growth and the Fed’s next rate hike.

As the market begins to slow, buyers are aware of the shift, while sellers are still thinking the sky's the limit.

Prices are high, availability is low, and the future is uncertain.

What does the Berkshire County year-end real estate report tell us? Higher prices. Lower inventory. Land sales up. Greater variety of properties sold.