National Home Prices

Could Boston condo for sale prices turn negative this year?

I wouldn’t count on Boston condo prices to turn negative. However, Home price appreciation across the country is barely positive compared to last year at this time. Depending on how you measure it, home prices are about 2% higher on average across the country than last year at this time. Late last year, prices were about 4% to 5% above last year. Now, we’re looking at 2%. The question worth asking now, is what happens the rest of this spring. Do home price turn negative? If mortgage rates stay elevated, demand will stay weak, and supply is slowly growing. In that case, further price pressure is a conceivable scenario.

Newly pending sales came in this week at the same level as a year ago. Sales have been running below last year. That’s a tiny bit of encouraging news as most of the housing market data nationally continues to signal that homebuyers are sitting on the sidelines.

The internet this week is overflowing with people who have a single screenshot from Zillow and declared that, with all the government cuts, suddenly the Washington, D.C. housing market is crashing. Spoiler alert: The D.C. housing market is not crashing. Inventory is still very tight in the D.C. Metro. New listings are barely above the pandemic lows.