Worcester County home prices hit $280K

File photo Median home prices continue to rise.

Write a Comment

By Zachary Comeau

Worcester County and Massachusetts home prices continue to be high as prospective home buyers have trouble finding homes in their budget due to a shortage of housing options, real estate experts say.

According to Boston real estate information service The Warren Group, closed home sales of single-family homes in Worcester County, dropped by 2.8 percent from 1,001 last August to 973 last month. Single-family home sale prices remain about $25,000 higher than last August’s mark of $255,000.

Statewide, the median sale price of a single-family home in August was $379,900, up from last year’s $364,900.

That marks 17 consecutive months of year-over-year increases in statewide median sale prices, The Warren Group said in a press release Thursday.

The state’s housing stock continues to be low: There were 6,759 single-family homes sold last month, compared to 6,930 last August, according to the Warren Group.

Although the median sale prices of condominiums dropped by 1 percent to $341,500, the amount of condominiums sold dropped 5 percent from 2,794 last August to 2,643 last month.

The Massachusetts Association of Realtors (MAR) reported similar trends: the median sale prices of single-family homes rose by 5.1 percent last month compared to August 2016, and the amount of closed single-family home sales dropped by 2.2 percent.

Inventory reached the lowest level for August since the association began recording data in 2004, MAR said.