Pending Sales Maintain Steady Year-Over-Year Increases for Almost Four Years This February

“This is the highest recording Market Confidence Index for the month of February since we began recording the data in 2008,” said Yorkis. “This speaks to the strength of the market this past year, as well as looking ahead to the spring market of 2017.”

Monthly ‘Hot Topic’ Question:   

The February “Hot Topic” question asked Realtors® how often the topic of either buying or selling a “tiny” house had come up among clients. Of those Realtors® who responded, 64 percent reported that the topic of tiny houses has never come up among their client base. Twenty-six percent of Realtors® responded that the topic is coming up few and far between among clients, while seven percent said that the topic is coming up occasionally. A remaining two percent responded that the topic of tiny homes is coming up frequently.

“While the idea of tiny houses and microunits are a new and exciting trend that could part of a broader solution to our ongoing housing shortage, the reality is that it’s not something clients are clamoring for yet,” said Yorkis. “We applaud the developers considering building these new homes and apartments and the pioneering residents seeking out this unique lifestyle.”

About the Data Sets:  

The tracking of signed purchase and sales agreements (also called “pending sales”) provide reliable information about where the real estate market is heading in coming months.

A pending sale or a sale “under agreement” happens when the buyer and seller agree on the terms of the sale of a home and have a signed purchase and sale agreement, but have yet to close and be recorded as such. MAR is the only organization, which compiles this statewide information from Multiple Listing Services each month.

Monthly pending (or under agreement) data and closed sales data comes from the three Realtor®-affiliated Multiple Listing Services in Massachusetts. They are the Berkshire County Multiple Listing Service, Cape Cod & Islands Association of Realtors® Multiple Listing Service, Inc.; and MLS Property Information Network, Inc. The data is compiled by 10K Research and Marketing, Inc. and updated each month. As a result, previous data may change after the reports have been run.

The REALTOR® Index Methodology – The Massachusetts Realtor® Market Confidence Index (RMCI) and Price Confidence Index (RPCI) are based on monthly responses from a random sampling of Massachusetts Association of Realtors® members on the state of the housing market. More specifically, the survey asks members two basic questions pertaining to the real estate business in their market area in Massachusetts.

In addition to these standard questions, the survey each month includes one wildcard question that changes each month and is based on an industry hot topic.

The RMCI is calculated in the following way. Respondents indicate whether conditions are, or are expected to be “strong” (100 points), “moderate” (50 points), and “weak” (0 points). The results are the average score for each question. A score of 50 is the threshold between a “strong” and a “weak” condition. Similarly, the question about home prices over the next year (Realtor® Price Confidence Index) is calculated using five categories: “Rise 0-5%” (75 points), “Rise 5%+” (100 points), “Level” (50 points), “Fall 0-5%” (25 points), and “Fall >5%” (0 points).

About the Massachusetts Association of Realtors®:

Organized in 1924, the Massachusetts Association of Realtors® is a professional trade organization with more than 24,000 members. The term Realtor® is registered as the exclusive designation of members of the National Association of Realtors® who subscribe to a strict code of ethics and enjoy continuing education programs.