Q. Has the real estate market improved this spring? 

A.  Many economic indicators support the current news reports that the real estate market is beginning a significant recovery. There are a number of factors which are creating a “perfect storm” for an active real estate market. The most influential factor is the historically low mortgage rates which allow home buyers to lock in rates for up to a 30-year period for under 4%. With a more stable economy, many buyers who have been on the real estate sidelines have more confidence in the job market to take advantage of these low mortgage rates and house prices that remain below the peak prices of several years ago.

There is upward pressure on house values because of the large number of prospective homebuyers combined with a significant lack of available properties for sale. As an example, the number of single family houses for sale inSharon(based on MLS data) is approximately 36 with another 29 houses already under contract and scheduled to close. Out of this total, there are only 5 available in the price range from $100,000-$500,000 and another 26 currently available in the price range $500,000-$1,000,000. Typically, there would be 3-4 times this number of available houses for sale. 

Here is a year-to-year comparison of single-family houses sold inSharon: (mls data)

  Year         # of sold houses        Average Sales Price           Selling Price/List price %

 2010                 148                           $434,700                                  96%

2011                 164                             450,500                                  97%

2012                 209                             449,000                                  97%

1/13-3/13           37                             500,800                                  96%

This chart reveals both an increase in numbers of house sold and an increase in average selling prices.