- by Cole Gargaro
Massachusetts 2025 Year in Review
As stated last month in Anthony’s Predictions for 2026, 2025 was “a year riddled with industry headlines about tariffs, the new Trump Administration, major trade and national economic changes that seems to have been met with incredible market resilience. Despite all that 2025 will go down in history as the pivot year where the Real Estate market began to head back in the right direction!” To that end, we saw increases in all categories but multi-family sales and condo prices, which were down 0.9% and 0.2% respectively, which is essentially no change.
In 2025, the Massachusetts housing market built on momentum from the prior year, with modestly higher sales activity and continued price appreciation compared to 2024, largely mirroring national trends. Demand remained resilient despite affordability pressures, while inventory constraints continued to shape market dynamics. Many homeowners with ultra-low mortgage rates were still hesitant to sell, but life events and changing circumstances brought a steady flow of new listings to market. As inventory slowly improved, strategic pricing became increasingly important for sellers. Buyers remained motivated, adapting to higher borrowing costs and home prices with a longer-term mindset. Even in a higher-rate environment, homeownership continued to stand out for its stability, wealth-building potential, and fixed monthly payments, reinforcing its long-term advantages over renting.
This report breaks down sales, average prices, the number of active listings, and how many listings went under contract for 2025 compared to 2024, and discusses what is predicted to unfold in 2026.
2025 Real Estate Performance Highlights:
- The number of homes sold increased by 2.7%
- Average prices for closed sales increased by 3.4%
- The number of homes listed increased by 7.2%
- The number of homes placed under contract (pending) increased by 2.5%
- The number of price changes increased by 27.4%, indicating that sellers were proactively meeting buyers where they were at.
- Constrained inventory has essentially propped up prices due to higher demand than supply
- 2026 will get us halfway back to the normal amount of annual home sales, showing up to a 10% increase over 2025.
Sales Rise by 2.7%
Sales in Massachusetts increased from 66,734 in 2024 and came in at 68,546 at the end of 2025, just under two thousand more sales year over year. Rates moved in a favorable direction in the last part of the year, boosting buyer confidence and activity. Would-be sellers started to gear up to make moves and felt better about trading in their pandemic-era mortgage rates once the current fixed rates fell to the low 6’s.
Sales were up in two out of three categories:
- Single family sales up by 2.9%: 42,023 in 2024 to 43,240 in 2025
- Condo sales up by 3.4%: 18,767 in 2024 to 19,413 in 2025
- Multi-family sales fell by 0.9%: 5,944 in 2024 to 5,893 in 2025
Below is a graph that illustrates home sales per year since 2005. 2025 exhibited a modest increase over 2024.
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Monthly sales were down only three times this past year over the previous year. Sales failed to beat the same month the previous year in March, August, and November.
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Average Prices Increase by 3.4%
Average prices in 2025 increased over 2024 by $24,723, up to $761,510 from $736,787. Despite affordability challenges, prices continue to rise as limited inventory drives competition among motivated buyers, often leading to multiple offers and higher sales prices. Slight bumps in inventory over the year made price adjustments more prevalent, preventing large year over year price increases overall.
Prices increased in all three categories:
- Single family prices increased by 4.5%: $766,085 in 2024 to $800,860 in 2025
- Condo prices decreased by 0.2%: $673,873 in 2024 to $672,797 in 2025
- Multi-family prices increased by 5%: $728,301 in 2024 to $761,510 in 2025
In the bar chart below, you’ll see that 2025 had the highest average prices since 2008, and quite frankly, the highest ever. As long as demand outweighs supply, prices will continue to hold firm.
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Monthly prices were up over 2024 every month in 2025 except for December. It’s incredible to get a sense of the increase since COVID when you compare the green line for 2020 and compare it to 2025.
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Average prices rose in every Massachusetts county except Suffolk County (down a nominal -1.5%), with increases ranging from 2.4% to 8.4%. This shows that demand is everywhere, not just on the coast or near cities. Furthermore, it shows that people are moving further away from the city as all Massachusetts counties are showing significant increases.
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2025 Listings Rise
2025 continued its increase in listings by 7.2%, after 2024 exhibited a welcome rise after 2023’s showing of the lowest number of listings since 1994. Sellers had been hesitating to list because they wanted to hold onto their pandemic era rates. As predicted, 2025 showed increased seller activity with mortgage rates making slight decreases over the year and life changes motivating owners to make a move. We aren’t back to the level that had been considered the norm for years with roughly 100,000 homes listed in Massachusetts annually, we are still only around 72,000 but the continued is a good sign that 2026 will have more inventory and buyers will see more selection.
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Pending Sales Increased by 2.5%
2025 saw an increase in pending sales, which contributed to the rise in closed sales. The 2.5% rise ended 2025 with 66,026 pending sales compared to 64,420 the previous year.
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Massachusetts Housing Inventory is Rising
We can see 2025, with the bright blue line, landing steadily higher than 2024’s monthly inventory levels in the graph below. The trendline throughout the year is relatively consistent with previous years, with a rise in inventory in the warmer months and a decrease in late fall and early winter. This is why Anthony always says that it’s better to sell in the winter and buy in the early fall. List in winter with fewer homes on the market, and you get buyer competition. Buy in the late fall and have a greater selection and more negotiating power.
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Will the 2026 Real Estate Market Improve?
The housing market showed signs of renewed strength toward the end of 2025. According to the National Association of Realtors, home sales increased in December and finished the year slightly higher than in 2024 as mortgage rates began to stabilize. Massachusetts followed this trend, with activity picking up late in the year, especially across Eastern Massachusetts, where buyer demand remained steady despite ongoing affordability challenges.
Mortgage rates spent much of 2025 in the mid-6% to low-7% range, giving buyers and sellers more predictability after several volatile years. Early in 2026, rates dipped below 6%, bringing fresh energy to the Massachusetts market and encouraging buyers who had been waiting on the sidelines. This shift has strengthened expectations that rates may continue to ease into 2026.
While 2025 was still a challenging year for buyers due to high home prices, conditions improved in the final months as price growth began to slow. In Massachusetts, this moderation helped balance the market, offering buyers some relief while home values remained supported by strong demand. At the beginning of 2026, it was reported that the highest number of home purchase applications were filed since January 2023, further indicating that the market is heating up.
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