Boston, MA
Single-family home cost in Massachusetts hits new heights
As the mercury rises, so do home prices.
A harbinger of that is the report today by The Warren Group, which shows the cost of a single-family home climbed 10% in February in the Bay State, with a new median price of $548,250.
“February was another record-setting month for median single-family home prices as sales activity
was flat on a year-over-year basis,” said Cassidy Norton of The Warren Group. “A lack of inventory is the biggest factor driving these trends, and with fewer and fewer homes hitting the market, we can fully expect to see more recording-setting prices paired with a low sales volume in the coming months.”
The report lists 2,042 single-family homes sold in Massachusetts during February. That’s flat year-over-year — or up 0.1% with 4,434 home sold in 2023 vs 4,438 this past February, the report states.
The median condo price increased 6.5% on a year-over-year basis to $490,000.
Condo sales also increased 5.8% when compared to last February, with 1,017 sales vs 1,076 closings this winter, the report adds.
“Although condo sales increased 5.8% in February on a year-over-year basis, activity is still
nowhere near what we saw even two or three years ago,” Norton said. “Record high prices and
high-interest rates are likely a big factor in the long-term decline in activity, and prospective
buyers shouldn’t expect much relief in the near future.”
The Fed is meeting this week, and all eyes are on the benchmark interest rate but don’t bet on any immediate relief.
Fed Chair Jerome Powell and his fellow Fed officials are expected to play it safe and keep rates frozen, according to multiple reports.
The Fed’s benchmark rate stands at about 5.4%, the highest level in 23 years, after a series of 11 rate hikes that were intended to curb the worst inflation in four decades but have also made borrowing much more expensive for consumers and businesses, the Associated Press reports.
Mortgage rates are hovering near 7.2% for a 30-year fixed rate, with other similar rates being promoted for slightly less. “Upper” 6% rates are also in play as of Monday, with Business Insider stating “hotter-than-expected economic data has helped push them back up.”
As for Greater Boston, the housing picture is even more costly.
The Warren Group report states the median price of a single-family home has soared 11.9% year-over-year in February from $620,000 to $693,750. That’s for the 139 towns located within Interstate 495. Condo prices are also up 5.7%.
There’s not much movement in Boston, where single-family home sales — though very rare — climb past $1 million, statistics show. The same holds true for Cambridge, Arlington, Dover, Belmont, Brookline, Concord, Edgartown, Hingham, Lexington, Lincoln, Needham, Wellesley, Weston, and Westwood.
It’s going to be a little while longer before Roman Anthony returns to action.
The Red Sox outfielder has suffered another setback in his recovery from a sprained right hand and will be shut down from swinging for a couple of days.
Red Sox interim manager Chad Tracy told reporters in Cleveland that Anthony tried hitting off a tee Thursday for the first time since suffering his injury on May 4, but that he found doing so to be painful.
“He hit off the tee (yesterday) and had some discomfort, so we’re going to slow play it,” Tracy said, per MLB.com’s Henry Palattella. “It’s going to be day-to-day, or even the better way is ‘action-to-action.’ (We’re going to be asking), ‘What did he do today, is that uncomfortable and do we have to wait?’ ”
Originally thought to be a minor issue that might not even require a stint on the injured list, Anthony has now missed 21 games and likely won’t be back until early-to-mid June.
The recovery process has also been halting. Anthony has continued doing most other baseball activities, including running and throwing, but it wasn’t until earlier this week that he could swing a bat free of discomfort.
Once he was able to comfortably take dry swings — or swing a bat without hitting the ball — the next step was hitting off a tee. Now he’ll be given a couple more days to heal and likely won’t try again until the Red Sox return home from Cleveland and are back at Fenway Park on Tuesday following Monday’s off day.
Tracy acknowledged that the recovery hasn’t gone as smoothly as expected, but emphasized that isn’t because of anything Anthony’s done wrong.
“That’s not Roman’s fault, it’s not anyone’s fault,” Tracy said. “It’s just he got hurt, and it’s a nagging injury on a hand when he’s trying to hit.”
Speaking to Rob Bradford on the Baseball Isn’t Boring podcast prior to Thursday’s game against the Atlanta Braves, Anthony clarified the exact nature of his injury, which was officially announced by the team as a right wrist sprain. Anthony said he has a partially torn ring finger ligament, specifically his ring finger CMC (carpometacarpal).
The sprain versus torn verbiage has generated some confusion among fans, though medically there isn’t a meaningful distinction between the two.
“I know stuff came out yesterday about tear versus sprain versus strain and all these different things, and I don’t know what to say other than any of those are a tear,” Tracy said. “You strain a hamstring and that’s a partial tear; fibers let go a little bit and they need to heal.
“I don’t think anything is portrayed differently or wrongly. If a guy strains his hamstring, I won’t come out here and say he tore his hamstring. That’s not how that works.”
Prior to suffering his injury, Anthony was batting .229 with one home run and a .675 OPS through his first 30 games this season.
Surprise: Another weekend and there’s more rain on the way. It’s bad enough we’ve had to post a First Alert.
For now, we’ll watch as clouds thicken today. We’ll squeeze out some drops later this afternoon and evening.
A weather maker is winding up in Canada, wrapping in cold air. All of that is going to dive down to New England.
We’re in the thick of it tomorrow. Rain will be coming at us in bursts with some dry time in between. Winds will likely push past 50 mph in Boston.
Those winds will eat away at temperatures; with wind chills barely above freezing. And no – not just in the morning – but the afternoon, too!
It’s so cold there’s the threat of snow as that rain bumps into colder air over the Berkshires, Worcester Hills and southern New Hampshire right up to Mount Washington.
The snow isn’t going to pile up but just know there could be some flakes flying over our highest hills.
The blue on our Futurecast map marks the spots where snow could mix with rain.
Rain spins out by Saturday evening but not before dumping about half an inch over Boston.
We’ll try to salvage the rest of the weekend with temperatures in the upper 60s by Sunday. Still, there’s the threat of bits and pieces of rain.
By the way, this isn’t any weekend, it’s the last weekend of spring. Meteorological summer starts on June 1.
The first day of summer remains drab and dreary with more rain chances and temperatures in the low 60 on Monday.
Federal immigration demands are once again centered on Massachusetts.
The House Judiciary Committee on Tuesday sent three letters to Boston Police Commissioner Michael Cox, Suffolk County Sheriff Steven Tompkins and Suffolk County District Attorney Kevin Hayden demanding, among other things, information on how many ICE detainers BPD has received and declined to honor from 2022 to 2026 and any communication between the three departments related to immigration.
House Judiciary Chairman Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, said in a statement that “releasing repeat criminals back to the streets solely because of their immigration status is crazy, and that’s exactly what Boston is doing.”
But Democrats push back on that framing.
“You’re familiar with Jim Jordan and his antics,” said Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey. “This is more circus, it’s more theater and it’s not making our community safe.”
A spokesperson for the City of Boston wrote, “the city has provided this information many times…” going on to say “…these policies are part of keeping Boston the safest major city in America.”
The letters call for the documents to be sent to the House Judiciary Committee by June 10th at 5:00 pm. District Attorney Hayden’s office told NBC 10 they are reviewing the letter, neither Commissioner Cox or Sheriff Tompkins responded to requests for comment.
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