2023 was a tough year for home buyers and investors; it was especially difficult for them to find a property within their price range and to afford and qualify for a mortgage while rates moved up and leveled during the year. By the third quarter of 2024, sales continue to retract from the previous highs of 2021-2022. Middle Berkshire recorded a slight rebound, but the decreasing sales market in Northern Berkshire continues the third year of declining sales. Noting that the lack of home inventory remains a challenge, as does high building costs, interest rates and inflation pressure, sales are still impacted by market dynamics.
What you need to know At-A-Glance: 3rd Quarter Residential Sale
• Are all sales up or down?
DOWN 5 percent with 1,178 sales YTD 2024 compared to 1,234 in 2023.
Note that the number of residential homes sold are also down by 5 percent, with 777 sales compared to 821 in the first three quarters of 2023. The number of south county homes for sale saw a slight increase, up 2 percent; Middle Berkshire 0 percent change and North Berkshire down 19 percent with 45 less sales.
• Is dollar volume up or down?
DOWN 3 percent to $495 million compared to $509 million last year. The dollar volume sold fell in all regions, but Middle and South dollar residential volume remained steady compared to 2023 3rd quarter sales rates.
• Are pending transactions up or down?
UP in September with 116 pending compared to 110.
The hottest residential market is in the $250,000-$400,000 price range for pending sales.
• Is inventory up or down?
UP. Absorption rate rose to 3.44 months compared to 2.74 months. With an overall absorption rate under 7 months, it’s still very, very low.
• Are prices up or down?
UP. Average sale price of residential homes is now $475,598.
Average sales prices are up 3 percent overall with North and Middle up 2 percent and South down 3 percent.
• Are residential ‘days on market’ up or down?
DOWN in September, but UP overall.
DOMs on average increased from 96 days last year to 105 this year so far.
Residential sales down 5 percent, dollar volume down 3 percent
Overall, the number of home sales in the third quarter of 2024 fell by 5 percent over the previous year, with 777 single-family sales, down from 821 countywide. North County sales dipped by 19 percent and 45 homes sold with a small rise of 2 percent in average sale price. In the Middle registry area, sales remained statistically level with dollar volume bumped up by 2 percent, for $191 million in sales. In Southern Berkshire, sales rose modestly, up 2 percent with 136 sales in the first three quarters, yet recorded a 1 percent decrease in the dollar volume. Notably, average sales prices rose 2 percent in northern and middle Berkshire, yet fell 3 percent in south.
Condo sales fell 7 percent, dollar volume down 2 percent
Condominium sales fell in Northern and Southern Berkshire County, but dollar volume increased considerably in Middle Berkshire. You can note year-after-year appreciation in condo prices, except during COVID, and especially as single-family residential inventory gets tighter, condo sales pick up. The attraction of condominium living is also at an all-time high in the Berkshires, which also helps fuel this growth. Lack of inventory remains the challenge.
Multifamily sales up 8 percent and dollar volume up 10 percent
In the first two quarters of 2024, multifamily sales were booming in all parts of the county, but that growth slowed during the second quarter. The Middle and South Berkshire regions are both reporting gains in the number of sales and Middle Berkshire shows robust dollar volume transacted as well. North county sales are status quo, with similar number of sales and strong sale prices. Despite the upswing in the multifamily market of between 1-5 units, the average sale price barely rose at all from the rate last year due to South County’s lowered price points.
Land sales down 12 percent, dollar volume down 20 percent
We were hopeful that land sales would rebound with warmer weather, but they have continued to stall in Northern Berkshire with more parcels sold in Central and Southern Berkshire, but off from pandemic year highs. It remains incredibly hard to build needed housing with current costs and codes. As an area with a lot of open space and expansion options while maintaining our wonderful rural footprint, we have citizens struggling for any type of housing, including rental housing and a growing unhoused population. There needs to be wide legislative action to incentivize smart growth and development while maintaining the Berkshires character.
Commercial number of sales the same as last year, dollar volume down 5 percent
The first three quarters of 2024 reflect the same number of sales, an increase from the first two quarters, and increasing dollar volume of commercial transaction sales in all parts of the county except Southern Berkshire. Nationally, Moody’s Analytics Economists explained the office sector held steady in Q3 2024 with a vacancy rate stable of 20.1 percent after three consecutive record-breaking quarters. The vacancy rate has slowly but steadily moved from 16.8 percent in Q4 2019 to 20.1 percent in Q3 2024 as demand weakened due to widespread WFH policies.
Click here for 3rd Quarter Market Watch PDF with graphs and town-by-town historical data.
