Greater Boston's median single-family home price hits $1M
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Greater Boston's housing market reached new heights last month, with the median price for a single-family home topping $1 million.
Why it matters: The higher home prices climb, the less feasible homeownership becomes for Boston-area residents, housing advocates say.
- That problem is likely to worsen as Massachusetts fails to expand housing production — and with it, affordable housing options — to meet demand.
Catch up quick: The Greater Boston Association of Realtors announced last week that the local housing market reached the $1 million milestone in June.
- "If you needed any more evidence that Greater Boston was one of the most desirable areas of the country to live, you just got it," Mark Triglione, president of the association, said in a news release.
- The median price for a condo was $725,000 in June, down 3.3% from May and the previous year.
Zoom in: Median single-family home prices had been ticking toward seven digits since April, even as more homes stayed on the market longer, per the GBAR.
- Some homebuyers believed they'd see prices drop as a result, "but the data and buying behavior continues to defy that notion," Triglione said.
Reality check: A family would need a down payment of $200,000 to buy a home without paying extra for private mortgage insurance, and that doesn't take into account the extra costs tacked on, including closing costs, HOA fees, utility bills and expenses for repairs.
- For many Boston-area residents, that price is out of reach. The city's median household income in 2023 was $94,755, per census data.
- Meanwhile, half of tenants spend more than 30% of their monthly income on rent (one-fourth spend more than half).
What they're saying: That $1 million mark suggests that "Boston is no longer for the people we serve," Symone Crawford, executive director of the Massachusetts Affordable Homeownership Alliance, tells Axios.
- "We're being pushed out."
Other housing advocates point to the increase in corporations buying homes and a lack of foreclosure protections and other homeowner and rental protections as factors driving housing costs — in addition to the supply crunch.
- A 2023 Metropolitan Area Planning Council report shows 21% of residential properties sold between 2004 and 2018 were bought by an investor.
- Homes for All Massachusetts, City Life/Vida Urbana and other groups are working with community land trusts to buy more homes to make them permanently affordable, says Carolyn Chou, Homes for All Massachusetts' executive director.
The other side: Dino Confalone, a real estate agent with Gibson Sotheby's International Realty, says it all comes down to supply.
- "Production across all price points is the only solution in Greater Boston to satisfy demand and bring down overall costs," he tells Axios.
The bottom line: It's a seller's market in Greater Boston, and that's not likely to change anytime soon.