That cold in the air you feel is the housing market

Prices in Boston are still climbing, but not at the dizzying pace that buyers have seen and sellers have enjoyed.
Sales of single-family homes and apartments in Massachusetts have fallen, and prices are still climbing - but like a hiker carrying a backpack full of unabridged dictionaries.
November's 3,806 single-family home sales reflect a decline of about 29% year-over-year and a decline of about 35% since 2020, according to a report released by The Warren Group on Wednesday. The 1,663 home sales in November represent a 22% year-over-year drop and a 22% drop since 2020.
Meanwhile, home prices in the country continued to agree amid low inventory and ongoing competition despite long-term mortgage rates in the sixties:
"The significant decline in single-family home sales in November was no surprise," said Tim Warren, CEO of The Warren Group. "Inventory tightening, higher interest rates and economic uncertainties have greatly affected consumer confidence, and real estate activity has taken a hit in recent months."
"The apartment market followed very similar trends to the single-family market in November - a massive year-over-year decline in sales along with a more modest increase in price," Warren added. "It is clear that no market is immune to the current economic conditions."
The same situation occurs when we narrow the focus to Eastern Massachusetts, according to the Boston Association of Realtors, which blamed the decline in sales on high mortgage rates, "40-year high inflation levels" and low inventory.
"Our fall market was hit by the double whammy of rising inflation and higher mortgage rates, which not only reduced buyers' purchasing power, but reduced overall demand, as some stopped looking for a home altogether," said Melvin A. Vieira Jr. of RE/Max Destiny, GBAR president. "As costs rose throughout the economy, we saw more and more buyers putting the brakes on their home search, while others took advantage of the decrease in buyer competition to proceed more cautiously, and this resulted in a slower and more normal pace of sales in recent months."
In the region, there was a 30% decrease in sales in both the house and apartment market in November, according to a report that the GBAR published on Tuesday. The situation was bleaker for multi-family sellers: transactions were down about 33% year over year.
The good news is that overall there are more active listings now than in November last year. The bad news is that the number of new listings is down about 15% compared to last year, which means properties are staying on the market longer.
Even so, homes in both categories hit a record price for November.
Median sales prices were higher in the condo and townhome markets in November, but they were down from their spring highs, Vieira said.
"It is likely that we have reached the price ceiling, at least for now," said Vieira. "Buyers simply cannot afford as much home as they could just six months ago, and with listings starting to sit longer and become more abundant, sellers are being forced to lower their expectations of property value and even make price adjustments to attract offers."

The market shows that buyers are still willing to pay these prices.
The median sales price of a single-family home in Plymouth County rose 5.5 percent year-over-year to $525,500 in November, according to a report by The Warren Group, and Norfolk County saw a more modest increase, 1.3 percent to $637,000.
The median home sale price in Suffolk County (home of Boston, Chelsea, River Winthrop) jumped 10.8% to $700,000, but in Middlesex County it was a smaller gain: $566,250 to 6.8%.
Taking a deep dive into the Cambridge market, the report finds roughly a 30% drop in single-family home sales and a 28% drop in apartment purchases. The median home sale price fell about 14% to $1,850,000, while the median cost of an apartment rose 3.1% last month to $850,000.
Contrast this with the sales in the city of Quincy, which decreased by about 39% for apartments and about 43% for detached houses. Median sales prices are a mixed bag: the cost of a condo in the "City of Presidents" fell 33.3% to $339,950 in November, while the average price for a single-family home rose about 5% to $650,000.