Home prices surge in outer suburbs
Some of the Boston area’s outer suburbs are now experiencing the biggest gains in home prices.
Cities and towns ranging from North Attleboro on the Rhode Island border to Haverhill on the New Hampshire line are seeing prices jump in the high single digits to double digits, according to real estate market tracker The Warren Group.
The increases come as buyers who have been priced out in a growing number of communities near Boston seek new alternatives in the outer suburbs along 495. An overarching shortage of homes for sale, which has put upward pressure on prices across Eastern Massachusetts, is also a factor.
Paul Yorkis, president of Patriot Real Estate out on the 495 corridor in Medway, said he’s noticed a growing number of buyers from the Boston area.
“What I am seeing is renters who are close to Boston becoming buyers out here because the cost of buying in the 128 belt is just very expensive,” Yorkis said.
He noted that the Boston-area buyers with whom he’s working are looking for entry-level homes that aren’t available in their price range closer to the city.
But while prices are generally lower out on 495, there is still a shortage of listings, with very few new homes under construction, Yorkis said. In Medway, there are just 10 new homes for sale, a far lower amount than in years past. That shortage, combined with rising demand, is helping to push prices up in the outer suburbs, as well.
For example, home prices in Millis, the town next door to Yorkis’s office, have jumped more than 11 percent to nearly $380,000 so far this year, while sales are up 40 percent, according to Warren Group stats.
Farther south along 495, Mansfield and North Attleboro are also on a price and sales tear. The median home price in Mansfield ($455,000) has risen nearly 22 percent, while home sales have jumped close to 60 percent. In North Attleboro, sales are up a whopping 90 percent, while prices have risen 14.2 percent, to $346,450,Warren Group stats also show.
Out in the western suburbs along 495, Marlborough’s median price has risen more than 9 percent to just under $340,000, while sales are up 19 percent. Hopkinton’s median price is now up to $642,450 after an 8.7 percent increase, while sales are up nearly 21 percent.
And to the north, Haverhill ($299,000) and Methuen ($295,000) have also posted big gains, with prices up 8.7 and 9.3 percent, respectively. Sales in both communities are up 13 percent.
The increases come as home prices across Massachusetts reach new heights amid a dwindling supply of listings and surging demand, with July’s median of $369,000 the second highest on record, according to Warren Group stats.
“Some buyers are getting priced out of the market,” said 2016 Massachusetts Association of Realtors President Annie Blatz, branch executive at Kinlin Grover Real Estate in Brewster, in a press release about the latest home price and sales numbers. “The only way we can fix this is with more inventory.”
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