October 2021 highlights
After a September jump in inventory, October brought a slowdown in Boston and the suburbs.
- Metro area condo listings returned to normal. The number of condos listed dropped 48% month over month after a huge leap in September. Because of the extra September inventory, sale-to-list price ratio stayed about flat while median days on market dropped 30% as buyers made quick decisions thanks to a wealth of options.
- Extra single family home inventory lowered sale prices in the city. The number of single family homes listed dropped 22% in October after leaping 150% in September. Those extra homes decreased competition as few buyers moved to purchase them. Sale-to-list price ratio dropped 3% month over month, days on market rose a whopping 70%, and median sale price fell 6%.
- Single family homes in the suburbs saw the lowest median sale price since February. Median sale price dropped 9% to $750,000 month over month, coming in 7% lower than in October 2020 and 47% lower than this year’s high of $1,100,000 in July. Meanwhile, the number of properties listed fell 22% month over month and the number pending jumped 24%.
See previous months’ highlights
Competition report
Our research team analyzed the competition in select local areas.
Sale price
List price
Sale price compared to list price
Days on market
Number of properties listed
Number of properties pending sale
Metropolitan Boston data is for the city of Boston excluding 02119,02121,02124,02130,02126,02131,02136,02132; Cambridge; and Somerville.
Boston Suburbs data is for Malden, Medford, Quincy, Weymouth, Watertown, Brookline, Newton, Lexington, Winchester, Belmont, and Arlington.