The Berkshires led the statewide rise in single-family home sales last month.
In January, 29 percent more single-family homes sold in the Berkshires than a year prior, and the median sale price increased 7.4 percent year-over-year to hit $330,650 countywide, according to a new report from the Warren Group.
When Sandra Carroll, CEO of the Berkshire County Board of Realtors, ran a report of data in the Multiple Listing Service she found that North County spurred the surge with a 57 percent increase in the number of homes sold and a median sale price increase of 35 percent.
Local realtors are uncertain what exactly is driving the increased activity, but they have guesses: the lower buyer competition during the winter months, growing demand in Northern Berkshire County, and holdover from last year. Inventory, though, doesn’t seem to be one of them.
“There was hardly a change in inventory, so that doesn’t seem to be the driver,” Carroll said.
The Warren Group reported Tuesday that the 2,626 single-family homes sold in Massachusetts in January represented a 9.3 percent increase over January 2024’s 2,403 single-family home sales. The median single-family home price in the commonwealth rose by 6.4 percent year-over-year to hit $585,000, a new record high for the month.
Berkshire County saw the greatest growth in January sales, the Warren Group reported. Ninety-seven single-family homes sold here last month, marking a 29.3 percent increase over the 75 sales in January 2024. Barnstable County followed closely with an increase of 26.9 percent.
Carroll’s report, which only considers realtor-assisted transactions, sets that percent change slightly lower at 24 percent, but the median sale increase slightly higher at 10 percent.
The rise in transactions and median sale price was driven by the Northern Berkshires market. Last month, 30 homes sold there, which marked a 57 percent increase over the 19 sales in January 2024. The median sale price rose by 35 percent year-over-year.
Central Berkshire County saw a stable 9 percent increase in single-family home sales. Three more homes sold in South County last month than the previous January.
As transactions and sale prices rise, the inventory of single-family homes has hardly budged, Carroll said.
In January 2024, there were 326 single-family homes listed in the Berkshires. Last month, there were 328 active listings, representing a zero percent increase.
Corey Bishop, owner of Bishop West Real Estate, said the large increases in North County could be explained by the influx of people interested in buying into the area over the past decade.
“When I say North County, I’m saying the North Adams, Adams area. Lanesborough, Cheshire, Williamstown, Hancock, New Ashford — those areas have always done very well,” said Bishop.
Bishop said the overall rise in sales and median sale price hike could be fueled by more active buyers in the market and the drop in competition during the winter months.
“There have been a lot of people that have been sitting on the sidelines, waiting to get a chance to buy,” said Bishop. “Maybe this is the time when they were able to get into the market and they know that as we come out of winter, the buyer pool is going to be bigger.”
