The Number of Massachusetts Single-Family Homes Put Under Agreement Up in November

November Pending Sales: 

• Pending sales have been up for the past 12 months

• Pending sales have been down or flat for five of the last 12 months

“Thanksgiving preparations and Black Friday shopping didn’t stop home buyers from finding time in November to make offers on single-family homes,” said 2018 MAR President Rita Coffey, general manager of CENTURY 21 Tullish & Clancy in Weymouth. “Even though prices are ticking closer to the $400,000 mark, with pending sales being up for the past 12 months, home buyers are showing us that the demand is still there.”

Realtor® Market and Price Confidence Indexes: 

• Measured on a 100-point scale, a score of 50 is the midpoint between a “strong” (100 points) and a “weak” (0 points) market condition

“Confidence indexes are still positive, but have decreased significantly from last year, likely because of high prices, no inventory, and interest rates continuing to tick up through November,” said Coffey.

Monthly ‘Hot Topic’ Question: 

The November “Hot Topic” question asked Realtors® if the legalization of recreational marijuana and presence, or possible future presence, of retail marijuana stores has impacted their buyer and seller transactions.

Of those who responded, two percent reported that the current or future presence of retail marijuana stores has seen a positive impact or a significant positive impact on their clients. A larger 77 percent of Realtors® reported that there has been a neutral impact. Of those who reported neutral, roughly one-sixth have had the topic come up during discussions with their clients. Another 10 percent have seen a negative impact (8%) or a significantly negative impact on their buyer and seller transactions (2%).

“Even though many Realtors® have not seen any positive or negative impact thus far, we will continue to observe the rollout of retail stores and how it might potentially affect the real estate industry,” said Coffey.

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.

• How would you describe the current housing market?
• What are your expectations of home prices over the next year?

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.

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Editors and reporters: Please note that the term Realtor is properly spelled with an initial capital “R”, per the Associated Press Stylebook.