Prices of Worcester triple deckers up 19% this year
PHOTO/BRANDON BUTLER
Sales and prices are up for multi-family homes in Worcester.
It’s been a good year for sellers of multi-family homes in Worcester, according to new data from The Warren Group, the Peabody-based market tracker.
From January through October, the volume of two- and three-family homes sold in the city increased by 7% percent compared to the same period a year ago.
As sales rose, so did prices. The median price for a two-family home reached $260,750 this year, up from $251,600 for the same period a year ago, a nearly 4 percent hike.
But it was the price of triple deckers that really took off. Median prices for three-family homes rose by 19% to $336,750 for the first 10 months of the year, up from $283,250 in 2018.
“There’s lots of interest in multis and there’s lots of interest in Worcester from Boston buyers,” said Arthur Berry, a broker at 1 Worcester Homes. “There’s lots of optimism because of the Worcester Red Sox stadium being built; and there’s a sense that Worcester is turning around, and they want to invest here.”
Klaudia Dang, a sales agent with Keller Williams in Worcester, said she’s seeing lots of first-time homebuyers who want to be owner-occupants. One of the biggest drivers of sales, she said, is rising rents.
“Rents are so high it’s better to own,” she said.
The average rent for an apartment in Worcester is $1,392, a 3% increase compared to the previous a year ago, according to RentCafe, an online nationwide listing service.
Consider these prices:
- At 145 Front Street at City Square, the new 365-unit complex downtown, advertised rents range from $1,460 for a 500-square-foot studio to $2,175 for a 1,000-square-foot two-bedroom unit.
- Audubon Plantation Ridge on Plantation Street is advertising one- and two-bedroom units from $1,840 to $2,090.
- On the less expensive side is 22 & 26 Vernon Street Apartments which are offering studios and one-bedrooms from $895 to $1,150.
Paul O'Rourke, the broker-owner of The O'Rourke Group Real Estate Professionals in Worcester, said investors priced out of Boston are flocking to Central Massachusetts where homes are less than half the price.
“The market has really shifted as a result of these out-of-town buyers,” he said. “I’ve sold 15 multi-family homes this year, and nearly every one of them had multiple offers; and most of them sold for well over asking price.”
Since the first of the year, 50% of the 365 Worcester multi-family homes listed on the Shrewsbury-based MLS Property Information Network fetched more than the asking price. The rest were sold at asking, below, or at auction with no predetermined price.
O'Rourke said many of the sales are from cash buyers who are not from Central Massachusetts and routinely waive inspections.
“Rather than pay $1 million and up for a multi in Boston, they come to Worcester where prices are much lower,” he said.
The shift began over the last two years, he said, as prices in Greater Boston skyrocketed. He, too, said the minor league baseball Red Sox's deal to move from Pawtucket, R.I. to the Canal District got the attention of out-of-towners.
“Four years ago, multi-family home in the Kelley Square location, not far from the stadium site, sat on the market for up to six months,” he said. “Now, those same multis are selling for up to $400,000 with no problem. It’s incredible.”
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I'd like to see more owner occupants.
'O'Rourke said many of the sales are from cash buyers who are not from Central Massachusetts and routinely waive inspections.'
I hope at least some of these cash buyers who waive inspections have read the regional news in the last week about the firefighter who lost his life in a three-unit blaze saving the lives of two of his brethren. Seriously, this is not good. I'd like to see any reportage of these cash buyers willing to invest in the upgrading of the properties they are buying without inspection. Sharing this on Facebook.
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