The number of homes for sale in Massachusetts’ major markets stayed at very low levels in February, new data from Massachusetts’ Realtor associations shows, keeping the state on track for a spring housing market featuring record price growth if strong demand continues.

The entirety of Barnstable County had only 343 single-family homes and 161 condominiums for sale last month, the Cape Cod and Islands Association of Realtors said Tuesday, compared to 1,500 single-family homes and 434 condos listed for sale last February.

The Greater Boston Association of Realtors reported only 974 single-family homes and 1,994 condos for sale in February, compared to 1,702 houses and 1,698 condos in the same month last year.

And the Pioneer Valley Association of Realtors reported only 386 single-family homes for sale, down 65.4 percent from February 2020.

The dearth of listings appears as homes continue to fly off the shelves. Single-family homes in the GBAR coverage area sold in an average of 46 days (down 40 percent from February 2020), while condos sold in 68 days, essentially unchanged from the same month last year. In the CCIAOR area, average days-on-market dropped 37 percent for single-family properties, to 77 days, and 5 percent for condos, to 120 days. In the Pioneer Valley, those figures were down 39 percent, to 51 days, for single-family homes and 7 percent, to 51 days, for condominiums.

The lack of single-family inventory is worrying some market-watchers that spring 2021 will see the extremely tight 2020 market conditions bleed into this year.

“There continues to be a severe imbalance between the number of properties for sale and those looking to buy in much of the market.  That’s enabled sellers to hold the upper-hand and many are asking top dollar when they go to list. On top of that, many buyers find themselves having to compete to outbid one another, and that’s helping to drive up prices further,” GBAR President Dino Confalone said in a statement.

Still, the state’s rapidly-improving COVID-19 vaccination rate may hold promise, CCAIOR CEO Ryan Castle said, but not a lot.

“Typically we see the strongest listing numbers in March, April, and May, so hope maybe on the horizon. Until the vaccine rollout gets real traction on Cape Cod, we do not anticipate any effect on inventory to be noticeable – and even then, we’re just being optimistic,” Castle said in a statement, warning that a lack of housing production could crimp the regional economy as it tries to recover from the COVID-19 recession.

Inventory Levels Stayed in the Basement in February

by James Sanna time to read: 2 min
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