Welcome to the beautiful town of Hingham, MA! 

Hingham is known for its incredible colonial history and stellar location on Boston Harbor. Hingham is a beautiful town located on the water with 21 miles of shoreline. The town has created 6 historic districts which will help it maintain its unique character in the future. These districts include Hingham Center, Hingham Shipyard, Bare Cove Park, Black Rock Road, downtown Hingham, and Fort Hill. Each district has its own unique history and character. For example, Hingham Center is the site of the first meetinghouse in Hingham, while the Hingham Shipyard is home to the oldest continuously operating shipyard in the United States. The Bare Cove Park district is characterized by its scenic views and hiking trails, while the Black Rock Road district is home to a number of historic homes and buildings. By preserving these historic districts, Hingham will be able to maintain its unique character for generations to come.

An organization dedicated to both welcoming new residents and providing existing residents with opportunities to socialize and to meet new friends. 

﻿The Club offers a wide range of activities which provide opportunities to socialize with new and old friends, and numerous ways to get involved in the community. Whether you are interested in playgroups, book clubs, gourmet dining, sports, children's activities, charitable giving, family outings, holiday celebrations, or just want to socialize, Hingham Newcomers are sure to have something for you.

&nbsp;A family-friendly beach with ample parking and the beach is truly public, yes FREE.

Be sure to plan your visit for high tide – mud flats at low tide mean that the beach is good for picnicking but little else.&nbsp;

If you’re beach-bound on a Saturday, keep in mind that much of the parking lot adjacent to Bathing Beach is home to the Hingham Farmer’s Market from 9AM-1PM (from May until November).&nbsp;

If water sports are more your thing, Hingham Recreation rents kayaks and stand-up paddleboards ($30 for a two-hours rental) on Wednesday mornings from 7AM – 11AM and on weekends on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays from 7AM-7PM.

There is plenty shopping and dining experiences in Hingham, two noteworthy ones Derby &amp; The Shipyard.

classic New England style and the charm of our seaside home in Hingham, with of-the-moment retailers and unique events to create a destination that feels both familiar and special.With 65 spots to shop and dine and beautiful open spaces to enjoy with the whole family (pets, too!), there’s always a reason to visit. No matter how you spend them, Derby days are pretty, and pretty perfect.

The Launch is ideally located about 30 minutes south of Boston and the same distance north of Cape Cod. With tons of shopping dining and entertainment, It's easily accessible from all major South Shore roadways, and the MBTA Water Shuttle docks right on the premises and the new Greenbush Commuter Rail line stops in town.

Get A List Of Properties Available in Hingham, MA

Offers easy access to great fishing, sailing, and cruising.

Located on the northern tip of Crow Point in Hingham, the Hingham Yacht Club (HYC) is a vibrant, family oriented sailing club.

Find New Construction Properties in Hingham, MA

We know how important bringing your furry friend along for new adventures is. Here we have provided 5 different pet friendly restaurants!&nbsp;

World's End is a dog-friendly, hidden gem seaside park in Hingham, MA with plenty of hiking and waling trails. Little to no beach access, but there are well-groomed paths and gorgeous views of Boston Harbor. Leashed dogs are welcome.

Enjoy soaking up the beauty of this scenic walk through the woods with your leashed pet at Bare Cove Park in Hingham, MA. The park features 484 acres located along the banks of the Weymouth Back River, with several riverside and woodland trails, as well as paved roadways.

This 3,500-acre state recreation area that offers 12 miles of paved bicycle trails, and many miles of wooded bridle paths and hiking trails. Leashed dogs are welcome on the trails, as long as they are well-behaved and mess is cleaned up after them. The park is open every day of the week from 6:30am to 8:00pm.

Dogs are welcome to be leashed along the exterior of six outdoor patio tables at this restaurant. Boathouse Bistro fuses Italian cuisine with that of the Cape.

Dogs are welcome at six outdoor tables at this restaurant located in The Derby Street Shoppes. Burton's Grill Bar serves American fare with vegetarian and Paleo options alongside craft beers, cocktails, and wines from the bar. 

Waterfront staple offering comfort eats an extensive microbrew list in lively, diner-style digs.

A waterfront restaurant with a casual feel, recently opened in the Hingham Shipyard. The Beth Kitchen &amp; Bar offers indoor outdoor dining, a spacious driftwood bar, creative American cuisine, refreshing cocktails, beers and wines.

Modern Italian-Mediterranean spot from the Wahlberg brothers offering a classy vibe harbor views.

22 Shipyard Dr old Hingham Shipyard, Hingham, MA

Intimate go-to for steakhouse fare with an upscale ambiance, lively lounge a large wine list

Downtown Hingham stretches from beautiful Main Street to picturesque Hingham Harbor and offers an eclectic assortment of restaurants, shops, museums and other treasures.

Learn more about shops &amp; dining as well as events happening in town! ⬇️

WELCOME TO DOWNTOWN HINGHAM
Downtown Hingham stretches from beautiful Main Street to pict...

This space used to be known as the “land of lost toys” but was renovated in 2017! 

Challenge= growth, and we are all about growing here in our facility. With over 15 auto belay systems, our top rope walls are easy to train and practice on. We cater to all ages, backgrounds, and capabilities.

Looking to take your skills to the great outdoors? Challenge Rocks offers comprehensive outdoor guiding so you can feel secure trying out the sport.

Our friendly and experienced staff of well-trained horticulturists will be here to guide you through the expanse of trees, shrubs, perennials and annuals, helping you to discover the best selections for your specific situation.

Derby St and Hingham Shipyard also offer a great atmosphere for family friendly walks and activities.

Looking for more things to do with Children? Check it out 

Four and a half miles of tree-lined carriage paths and footpaths connect the drumlins, offering dramatic views of the Weir River, Hingham Harbor, and the stunning views of the Boston skyline.

&nbsp;Depending on your inclination and the season, walk, jog, or cross-country-ski a rolling landscape encompassing saltwater marshes, meadows, woodlands, and granite ledges covered with red cedars and blueberry thickets.

4.5 miles of carriage paths and footpaths. Moderate hiking.

FOUNDER | OWNER

Hingham is known for its incredible colonial history and stellar location on Boston Harbor. Hingham is a beautiful town ...

Best Places to Live in Hingham Massachusetts: Neighborhoods Explained

The real estate market is still moving! How did your local market compare?

State of the Market Report 📊 October 2020

We have continued to crunch data from the South Shore and Cape Cod Association of Realtors® Multiple Listing Services (MLS) to help our clients and community better understand the state of the local real estate market.&nbsp;

This report is for single family homes in Plymouth County and Barnstable County. Please note Condos, Multi-family homes and land are excluded.&nbsp;

: New listings inventory continues to remain down by 60% from this time last year. &nbsp;In 2019 - 1,035 listings were available in Plymouth County as of 12/15/19 whereas there are only 408 homes on the market as of today. &nbsp;There was a decrease of 4.4% in the number of new listings in Barnstable County year-to-date.

It is certainly still a Sellers market. &nbsp;Sellers are still not in a market where they need to be negotiating and they're are getting more money for their homes than they would have at this time last year. 48.47% less Seller's have adjusted their asking prices this year versus 2019. 

Price change data is currently unavailable for Barnstable County.

 home sales pending up 1.32% from last year. This is the second month we have seen an increase since the beginning of the pandemic. &nbsp;The average days on market has continued to decrease as demand remains high in the current market. 

data is currently unavailable for Barnstable County.

 A strong majority of 2020 has helped sold data remain rather unscathed throughout the pandemic as we continue to navigate a new normal. &nbsp;The market has continued to be extremely active since mid-May. &nbsp;Although there continues to be a decrease in closed sales, the numbers are not as vastly different as they were in previous months. &nbsp;In Barnstable County they saw, a year-to-date increase of 17.7% more sales year over year as of December 15th which shows that the market on the Upper Care is continuing to perform better this year than in 2019.

 Mortgage rates have recently dropped again and remain lower than usual with a strong real estate market. Readily available mortgage types continue to be Conventional (Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac), Government (FHA and VA with tighter FICO score requirements), &nbsp;USDA, Mass Housing, Renovation and Jumbo (although some lenders don't have access to some of the bank investors that are doing them). &nbsp;First time home buyer rates are low right now and it's a great time to take advantage!

 We are here for you to answer any questions and help you find solutions and possibilities during these uncertain, changing times. &nbsp;Please do not hesitate to contact us at 

What is the status of the current housing market?

Let's start by looking at this housing market recovery
index that we’ve been watching since the summer, during the pandemic. The four components of
this, demand, supply, price and time on market. We see that slight dip right around election time, but we see it coming back.


Now, why is this important? It’s important to remember right now that we’ve settled into a very active market. We’ve gone through the dashboard of pending deals, showings and mortgage applications all trending up. The one thing down is inventory right now however we're still
above that February first baseline that we saw earlier in the year.

We are starting to get a look at what’s happening to people as they come out of
forbearance. We’ve got a look from the MBA right here showing what
happened as people exited from their forbearance plan. The green, 54.6% of the people paid in full. They either made their monthly payments in this,
they paid off their loan or the past due payments were brought current upon the end. Those
are folks that you know maybe opted for forbearance but didn’t need it and were kind of able to weather
the storm that way.
The blue you see there, those are in some form of work out. 30.7% of those that went through a
modification or deferral in their loan. So those are folks who are saying it did what it was
intended to do for us. The red, 14.7% are in some form of trouble. They don’t have a loss
mitigation plan yet, or they’re in some kind of short sale type of situation.

What is happening with Home Prices &amp; Inventory?

Are prices going up too fast right now? You
know, we’re seeing appreciation at a level that is asking many to say, can we sustain this in the market?
Is this something I need to be worried about? What’s going on with home prices?&nbsp;

Now, let's give this some perspective. &nbsp;If we look at compound annual home price
appreciation going all the way back to 1991, the average is 3.8% in annual home price
appreciation. If we look back to 2012, that number is considerably higher, 6.1% appreciation. So,
when you look at the average going back to ‘91 of 3.8%, and we look at 7%, that’s quite a jump. &nbsp;We look at it since 2012, not as much of a jump but still above that.&nbsp;

Now, if we were to start at 2000 and look at the historic appreciation,
3.8%, what would happen to home values if that just played out and the housing crash
doesn’t happen and just as we go through this “normal” market every year. That’s not reality but then we went ahead and laid in reality, of what happens in the market when we see this
run up in prices in early 2000’s, depreciation through the housing crash and then where we’ve been
going back to that chart since 2012 and where do we see ourselves today. We see that the actual
appreciation is outpacing the historic appreciation in this year.&nbsp;

We want to give you a little bit of reasoning behind why we’re in that position right now across the country and it’s the story of inventory and home prices, and what has happened to both of those over the last ten years. If you look at this graph, this shows as the supply of homes on market goes down, the price has gone up. And even where we stand today with limited supply 

and seeing home prices go up for a lot of different reasons.

Low interest rates are fueling buyer demand right now. The different needs that people
have through the pandemic for housing, fueling buyer demand. So many things putting pressure and that
lack of supply is keeping upward pressure on prices, pushing them higher

Here is a little perspective along these prices, and it comes from NAR’s Chief Economist Lawrence Yun. He says, 

“Such a frenzy of activity reminiscent of 2006 raises questions
about a bubble and the potential for a painful crash. It’s on a lot of people’s minds. The answer? There is
no comparison. Back in 2006, dubious adjustable rate mortgages taxed many buyers’ budgets. Some loans didn’t even require income documentation. Today, buyers are taking out 30 year fixed rate mortgages. 14 years ago, there were 3.8 million homes listed for sale, and home builders were putting up about two million new units. Now, inventory is only about 1.5 million homes, and homebuilders are underproducing relative to historical averages.”

So, when we were back in the housing crash, that oversupply that we talked a lot about in the last several
months led to a lot of challenges in the market. Where are we at today? We’re in an undersupply
scenario, on a very different lending environment across the country and we’re seeing appreciation.

Another headline that we're likely going to see relative to this is, mortgage debt in the country soaring to close to $10 trillion. That’s obviously a big number. Many people will say okay, here we go again - prices are appreciating at an unsustainable rate, mortgage debt is soaring. If we go look back at the Federal Reserve Bank - 

"Mortgage balances, the largest component of
household debt, rose by 85 billion in the third quarter and sat at 9.86 trillion on September 30th.Mortgage originations, which include refinances, were at 1.05 trillion, the second highest volume in the
history of the series, and second only to the historic refinance boom of the third quarter of 2003."

So, as
we start to see all these refinances come in, we see volume come in, we’re seeing more mortgage debt. It’s important to remember that mortgage debt is going to rise as more homes are built, and as
those homes appreciate and more homes are sold. What we want to really look at is the
debt service ratio. Here is a graph provided by the Fed of household debt service ratio for
mortgages as a percent of disposable personal income.

We look all the way back to 1980 and you can see there, where we stand today is lower than where
we were in the ‘80s and ‘90’s and certainly in the early 2000’s when we peaked at over 7%. Today we
sit at 3.72% of disposable income committed to a mortgage payment. Why is that? 

That is the effect of
lower interest rates and rising wages

Keeping in mind projections for next year and the coronavirus, by mid-year, a majority of
the population could be vaccinated. We’re going to have to see that play out and how that happens across the country. As people have more certainty. As we started this pandemic off and people questioned are people going to go
back to work, or are they going to all work from home now? There’s probably some hybrid models in
the middle that once people get certainty to, they can
make decisions relative to housing.

A lot of this is going to depend on the path of the coronavirus and what we have going on throughout the country. We’re in a place right now where certainly cases are rising but as we look forward, the thought
that always comes to mind is, it’s darkest before the dawn. There’s hope around the corner,
and we’re certainly looking to the future for that!

If we look at projections for mortgage rates, Freddie Mac has come out with their projections through the fourth quarter of next year. They’re saying that we’re going to stay around 3% for a 30 year fixed. Whether that has slight changes and we’re at 2.7, 2.8, bouncing around there, look at the bigger picture here of where we were in 2016, ‘17, up to ‘19, and where we are today.&nbsp;

Definitely a favorable lending environment for those looking to purchase a home as compared to the last couple of years. This year we’ve gone through 14 lows in the average 30 year fixed as measured by Freddie Mac. That’s not just this year, its since they’ve been recording those.&nbsp;

So, next piece of information from Danielle Hale talking about the volume of homes sold. She says, “

We expect sales in 2021 to come in 7% above 2020 levels.”

We’re going to sell more homes this year than we did last year in the middle of a pandemic, and sell even more going into 2021. &nbsp;Why? Because needs are changing. People are saying with these low rates, we’re going
to go out and buy. There are going to be a lot of people that say we held off in listing our home this year
or selling our home because we felt unsafe for whatever reason now putting their home on the market.

So again, the coronavirus will dictate what we see there as the vaccine is made available. As we go into 2021 looking like more normal patterns. Now, that’s
yet to be seen relative to the spring and the summer, it's likely as we get that
information and people feel more safe, then we’ll start to see more volume and more transactions.

LET'S TAKE A CLOSER LOOK AT HOW YOUR TOWN DID IN THE MONTH OF NOVEMBER&nbsp;⤵️

In the Town of Plymouth, home sales decreased decreased from 108 sales in October. The Average Days on Market has dropped from over 2 months in October to just over 1 month in November. &nbsp;The Average Sale Price has also dropped from $576k in October.

In the Town of Hingham, the number of new homes entering the market has continued to decrease month over month. &nbsp;Homes spent less time on the market during November than they did in October. The Average Sale Price remains in the million dollar bracket month over month with a slight increase from $1.2m in October.

In the Town of Scituate, the Average Sale Price increased by just over $50,000 in November. &nbsp;Home sales remain consistent however they spent a bit more time on the market than they did in October. &nbsp;The number of new offerings decreased in November.

In the Town of Marshfield, the number of homes sold decreased by 50% during the month of October. Properties are selling at a slightly faster pace - spending just about a month on the market. &nbsp;The Average Sales Price has decreased for the first time in the last few months.

In the Town of Kingston, the number of new homes for sale and the number of homes sold in the month of November has remained consistent. The Average Days on Market increased in November and the Average Sale price increased from $524k in September and October.

In the Town of Duxbury, the Average Sale Price of homes has decreased for the first time since August and no longer remains in the million dollar bracket. &nbsp;Available inventory has decreased as well as the Average Days on Market in November.

In the Town of Norwell, the Average Days on Market have increased in the month of November from 40 days in October. There has been a consistent amount of inventory from April through November for the town of Norwell. &nbsp;The number of homes sold in the month of November was slightly lower than in October. &nbsp;The Average Sale Price remains in the high $800s range through November.

In the Town of Cohasset, the amount of available inventory has remained consistent over the last three months which shows a steady market. &nbsp;The number of days on market has increased from 27 days in October. &nbsp;The Average Sale Price remains in the million dollar bracket month over month, slightly higher than September and October.&nbsp;

In the Town of Hanover, the number of homes sold increased in the month of November up from 16 sold in October. The Average Days on Market has increased and the Average Sale price has increased by $41,000.

In the Town of Pembroke, the amount of new offerings in the last 30 days decreased by half. &nbsp;The Average Days on Market decreased from 54 days in October. The Average Sale Price has increased from the mid $400,000s in October.

In the Town of Hull, the number of homes sold increased slightly in November. &nbsp;Homes entering the market have slowed down and there is significantly less inventory available.

The Average Days on Market increased from 62 days in November and the Average Sale Price has decreased by $125k.

In the Town of Bourne, the amount of available inventory has decreased month over month. &nbsp;The Average Days on Market has remained consistent which tells us that the buyer demand is there however the lack of inventory is hindering them buying at an even faster pace. &nbsp;The Average Sale Price has decreased in the month of November.

In the Town of Sandwich, the Average Days on Market significantly decreased from 69 Days in October. &nbsp;The number of homes sold has remained consistent month over month however there is less inventory available on the market.&nbsp;

In the Town of Mashpee, the Average Sale Price has increased into the million dollar bracket in November from $801,000 in October. &nbsp;The Average Days on Market have decreased again from 89 in October. &nbsp;The number of homes sold has remained fairly consistent since July with just a slight decrease in November.

In the Town of Falmouth, the Average Sale Price has decreased slightly but remains in the mid $700,000s. &nbsp;The number of new homes entering the market in September has decreased slightly as well. The number of homes sold has decreased although not drastically.

In the Town of Chatham, home sales increased slightly from 27 homes sold in October. The market in Chatham is remaining consistent with throughout the last three months. &nbsp;The Average Sale Price has remained in the million dollar bracket over the last 4 months with a slight drop from $1.4m in October.&nbsp;

In the Town of Yarmouth Port, property sales have decreased again. &nbsp;The Average Days on Market remains consistent although the number of new homes and current homes for sale have decreased since October. &nbsp;

If your town wasn't included in this report,&nbsp;

 and let us know. &nbsp;We'll be happy to get you that data!&nbsp;

*Market Information obtained from MLSpin, Cape and Islands MLS and Keeping Current Matters*

The Holiday season isn't slowing down the real estate market! How did your local market compare?

State of the Market Report 📊 November 2020

How did your local market compare at the end of 2020?

State of the Market Report 📊 December 2020

How did your local market compare at the beginning of 2021?

State of the Market Report 📊 2021 Predictions

We have continued to crunch data from the South Shore and Cape Cod Association of Realtors® Multiple Listing Services (MLS) to help our clients and community better understand the state of the local real estate market as we continue into 2021 and what is to come.&nbsp;

: New listings inventory continues to remain down by 66% from this time last year. &nbsp;In 2020 - 889 listings were available in Plymouth County as of 3/10/20 whereas there are only 296 homes on the market as of today. &nbsp;There was a decrease of 42% in the number of new listings in Barnstable County as compared to 2020 (158 less homes available).

It continues to be a Sellers market due to limited inventory throughout Plymouth County. &nbsp;Sellers are still not in a market where they need to be negotiating and they're are getting more money for their homes than they would have at this time last year. 188 homes changed their prices last year vs. 65 YTD. &nbsp;

As of March 10th, there are 17.7% less homes with sales pending compared to last year. The average days on market has continued to decrease as demand remains high in the current market. 

 The market has continued to be extremely active even with limited inventory. &nbsp;That has not stopped as we continue through the beginning of 2021 however with less inventory, there has been fewer sales vs 2020. &nbsp;As of March 10th home sales are down by 2.2% 2021 vs. 2020. &nbsp;The number of listings sold in Barnstable County is up 20% as of 3/10/21.

 Mortgage rates have increased slightly for the first time since 2020 however they still remain lower than usual with a strong real estate market. Readily available mortgage types continue to be Conventional (Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac), Government (FHA and VA with tighter FICO score requirements), &nbsp;USDA, Mass Housing, Renovation and Jumbo (although some lenders don't have access to some of the bank investors that are doing them). &nbsp;First time home buyer rates remain low right now and many are finding that they are qualifying for Conventional Loans setting them at a better advantage for winning offers.

 We are here for you to answer any questions and help you find solutions and possibilities during this insanely busy market that we are experiencing. &nbsp;Please do not hesitate to contact us at 

Have we seen the lowest already? &nbsp;We’re certainly seeing mortgage rates creep up here in the beginning of March, and we’ll see what the future holds but as of today, mortgage rates coming over, the average 30 year fixed, coming over 3%.&nbsp;

“Since reaching a low point in January, mortgage rates have risen by more than 30 basis points, and the impact on purchase demand has been noticeable.”

"Purchase activity remains high. It’s cooled over, off the last few weeks and it’s currently on par with early March prior to the pandemic. However, the rise in mortgage rates over the next couple of months is likely to be more muted in comparison to the last few weeks, and we expect a strong spring sales season."

So average 30 year fixed, 3.02% right now. And in the rearview mirror, Sam Khater here said you know, 

“What we’ve seen, rates start to tick up.”

 However they will likely be more muted as we go forward but no doubt the horizon is that interest rates are going to begin to rise as the economy improves, as we get better information on the coronavirus. If we look at this, this is kind of a snapshot here we’ve been using for the 30-year fixed rate going all the way back to the beginning of last year. January and February of last year, two of the best months in residential real estate in over 10 years. &nbsp;

We’ve been ahead of that this January and February, so a lot of demand, a lot of activity in the market, and now we’re starting to see those rates creep up. Interest rates in today’s market are going to be a question for a lot of people out there thinking about buying a home.&nbsp;

An update regarding forbearance - there have been a few articles that have come out asking, is forbearance going up? Is it going down? What’s happening?&nbsp;

Those that are coming out of forbearance, we see largely are remaining the same. This data is as of February 14th. We see almost one out of two that took forbearance didn’t need it. You know, they made their monthly payments or they made them at the end, they paid off their loan, whatever the case may be. A significant portion, 33%, are in some kind of loan modification. They’re in a deferral. They tack the payments on the back end.&nbsp;

That’s 84% of the people that took forbearance got out of it. Why is that important? Well, the narrative on the front end of this was that all of these people are going to take forbearance, and they’re all going to turn into foreclosures. Simply not the case. We still have those in red, a little over 15% that are still in trouble, that don’t have a loss mitigation plan or are in some form of distress sale, deed in lieu, short sale, whatever the case may be. 

If we look at the percentage of overall forbearances, that has decreased. It kind of plateaued over the last couple of months, where we see a 5.22% of mortgages as of February in active forbearance. Slowly coming down, but you can see that they’re in the blue bars on this graph. And so while we start to see that come down, you know, as we go throughout the year, we’ll see more and more people come off of forbearance. Not everybody started it the same. No doubt over the next year, people will exit forbearance. That number will start to go down.

DS News reported this. “About 325,000 people will exit the forbearance program over the next 6-9 months without a plan in place. Some, but probably not all of those loans, will likely default.” Now, that brings up this question again. Are we going to see this rush of foreclosures?&nbsp;

325,000 people going into some type of distress sale. Now, we’re not saying all of those are. They’re saying some but not all. 325,000 families and individuals into perspective, I want to show you a picture, if all that inventory were to come to market today.

This graphic gives you a perspective of how housing inventory started each year going all the way back to 2016. You see where it’s been, where we stand today, 325,000, just over 325,000 active inventory across the country. If all of those distress sales came to market tomorrow, which, again, nobody is calling for that - that wouldn’t even get us to where we were this time last year. Or any time, back to 2016. So, as far as the real estate market is concerned, there’s no way we see a foreclosure crisis coming.

The biggest issue no doubt that we face, and it’s highlighted by this graph here, is the&nbsp;lack of inventory.

 says this. “The lack of existing homes&nbsp;available for sale remains the only drag to housing market potential. Many homeowners may want to upgrade, but do not for fear that they will be unable to find a home to buy, preventing more supply from reaching the market and exacerbating the lack of inventory. As a result, everyone ‘stays put’ and the supply of homes for sale dwindles even further.”

This idea that we want to sell our home but we don’t know where we’re going to go is what a lot of folks are facing right now.&nbsp;

We’re going to have a great year this year but we may not reach the potential that the market could hit. You remember the first quote that we mentioned with Lawrence Yun - eight million homes could be sold, but if we don’t have them, we can’t sell them.

This graph to the right is a look at the year over year change in listings over the last year. The green bar is new listings, and the orange turning to red bar is total listings or inventory. So you see as quickly as it comes to market, it’s being purchased and at a desperately low position across the country. What we need is those listings to come back to market. We talked last time in our Monthly Market Report about where those will come from. From those that maybe put off selling something, from builders to those that feel comfortable this year. Even those that are going to experience a need to sell their home, because of what they went through in the pandemic.

“Home sales continue to ascend for the first month of the year, as buyers quickly snatched up virtually every new listing coming to market. Sales easily could have been 20% higher if there had been more inventory, more choices. Again, we can’t sell what we don’t have.”&nbsp;

We talked a lot about in the past, the sweet spot to sell something. When do you want to sell something? When there’s fewer of that item on the market than any other time. That is usually around January, February, the very end of the year, beginning of the year. Even last January and February was a sweet spot. But today, we sit at an even sweeter spot with about, average about 1.9 months of active inventory across the country.&nbsp;

Now, depending on where you’re at, that may be a little higher, a little lower. However, we can say it is the sweetest spot in the time that we’ve shown here, and probably in the time that real estate has been sold in your lifetime, to sell a home. 

You know, no doubt the shortage in housing and the demand coming to housing, people are saying, we need to buy something. Rates are low, we’re going to go ahead and do it. It’s caused the price to go up. When that price goes up, what does that mean? It means equity for those homeowners. There will be people that will make a decision to sell this year because they have the equity they can leverage. They can go out and buy another home, and move up. They can do a number of things that they’ve put off doing relative to their home, given the equity gains they’ve seen in the last 12 months.

That brings us to this point, probably one of the big pieces right now that people are talking about is home price appreciation.

Lawrence Yun, Chief Economist at NAR, says this; 

“A typical homeowner in 2020, just by being a homeowner, they would have accumulated around $24,000 in housing wealth.”

 Now, while that’s a fact in 2020 for the average homeowner, that’s also a fact for the future. Those that aren’t homeowners don’t have the opportunity to build that wealth.

One of the greatest gifts of home ownership is the financial benefits. If anything 2020 gave us a look at the non-financial benefits of home ownership, the meaning of home, and all the time we’re spending at home. Now we see the financial benefits just as equally as powerful.&nbsp;

It’s got a lot of people again thinking okay, are homes becoming unaffordable?&nbsp;

Mark Fleming says this, from First American; “Nationally, house buying power continues to exceed the median sale price and implies housing is not overvalued today.” You know, we also look at NAR’s Home Affordability Index, and we know that homes are more affordable today. &nbsp;Now, as interest rates rise, as prices go up, that’s going to eat into affordability no doubt. But as we stated today, affordability is looking very, very good. Now, this is a combination of rising wages and lowering interest rates, which bring us good affordability.

As we look forward to this year and what experts are saying about appreciation, they are upgrading their forecasts for appreciation.

Appreciation is always going to be determined by the supply and the demand, ultimately. There are a lot of people looking at housing pricing today saying all right, we’re running a little hot right now. We’ve talked extensively about this, about historical appreciation at 3.8%, A lot of people are asking the question - "Are we in a bubble?" Here are some pricing comparisons to show pricing today is nowhere near what it was back in pre-housing crash. &nbsp;

Here is annual home price appreciation, the four years leading up to 2006. Some of the height of the housing market. And then the four years leading up to today. And what do you see right there? Annual appreciation averaged 10.3% back then, where today it averages just over 6%. Big, big difference, in the amount of appreciation year after year, where we’ve seen a lot of appreciation the last 12 months.

This is spurred on by demand and it’s eaten into the amount of supply, because so many people are looking for a solution in housing. Back then, we would say that was runaway appreciation in those four years and we know that as you have runaway appreciation, something bad is about to happen, and that certainly did in the housing crisis. Where we stand today, we’ve had a lot, but we’ve had higher appreciation in the last year. 

We see the annual average appreciation is nowhere near what it was. If we even go back and look at FHFA maps going back to the fourth quarter of 2020 and we say okay, the country appreciated at 10.8% according to the FHFA and we look at New England at 12.6% whereas back in 2005 New England was at 9.9% appreciation. &nbsp;A very interesting look when you start to look at how was the market performing in 2005, and how is the market performing today - a stark difference.

LET'S TAKE A CLOSER LOOK AT HOW YOUR TOWN DID IN FEBRUARY OF 2021&nbsp;⤵️

In the Town of Plymouth, home sales continue through the month of February down from 55 homes sold in January. The Average Days on Market remained relatively steady just under one month.&nbsp;The the Average Sale Price has decreased from the mid-$500k range for the first time in two months.

In the Town of Hingham, the number of new homes entering the market has increased for the first time in a few months with 19 home available to purchase at this time . &nbsp;Homes continued to spend more time on the market than they did in December. The Average Sale Price increased from $959k in January back into the million dollar bracket. &nbsp;Significantly less homes sold in the month of February, down from 15 homes in January.

In the Town of Scituate, the Average Sale Price decreased from $777k in January. Home sales decreased again in February, down from 19 homes sold in January.

In the Town of Marshfield, the number of homes sold remained consistent from January through February at 15 homes sold each month. &nbsp;Properties spent slightly more time on the market during February.&nbsp;The Average Sales Price decreased for the first time in the last two months, down from $755K in January.

In the Town of Kingston, the number of new offerings has increased slightly over the last two months bringing numbers into the double digits. The number of homes sold was remaining consistent month over month however it dropped by more than 50%. &nbsp;The Average Sale Price has increased into the mid-$600K range.&nbsp;

In the Town of Duxbury, the Average Sale Price of homes has increased once again from $857K in January. &nbsp;Available inventory has also increased ever so slightly as well as new offerings in the last 30 days. This tells us that Sellers are entering the market as we head further into the new year. &nbsp;The Average Days on Market increased from 10 days in January to one month on market in February this could be due to slightly more inventory and options available for buyers to view before making a decision. &nbsp;

In the Town of Norwell, the Average Days on Market have decreased again from 12 in January showing that homes are spending even less time on the market. There is limited inventory in many towns, including Norwell however, the number remains fairly consistent month over month with only slight fluctuations.&nbsp;The number of homes sold remain consistent and the Average Sale Price increased from $749k in January.

In the Town of Cohasset, the amount of available inventory has remained consistent over the last five months which shows a steady market. &nbsp;The number of days on market has increased for the first time in 3 months to just over 2 months. &nbsp;The Average Sale Price decreased from $2.1mil in January but it still remains in the million dollar bracket.&nbsp;

In the Town of Hanover, the number of homes sold dropped slightly from 10 in January. The Average Days on Market increased slightly and the Average Sale price has decreased by $91,000.

In the Town of Pembroke, the current amount of available inventory continues to be extremely low. &nbsp;There have been no 

 offerings within the last 30 days which could likely be attributed to the overall lack in available inventory. &nbsp;Simply put, sellers are not ready to place their homes on the market.&nbsp;The Average Days on Market increased dramatically from January to February, with an average of nearly 2 months time vs. 18 days in January. The Average Sale Price has increased once again from $519K in January.

In the Town of Hull, the number of homes sold has decreased by 50% for the first time in the last 3 months. Homes entering the market have remained consistent and there is still a very limited amount of &nbsp;available inventory.

The Average Days on Market have dramatically increased from 13 days in January. &nbsp;The&nbsp;Average Sale Price has remained within the $400k bracket with a slight increase since January.

In the Town of Bourne, the amount of available inventory has leveled off and remains consistent month over month. &nbsp;The Average Days on Market has decreased again form 24 days in January which tells us that the buyer demand is strong and they are actively purchasing the homes that are available. &nbsp; The Average Sale Price has decreased from the mid-$600k range and the amount of homes sold in February decreased slightly.

Marketing Director

How did your local market compare to others last month?

State of the Market Report 📊 March 2021

Each month we crunch data from the South Shore and Cape Cod Association of Realtors® Multiple Listing Services (MLS) to help our clients and community better understand the state of the local real estate market as we continue into Q2 of 2021.&nbsp;

: New listings inventory continues to remain down by 63% from this time last year. &nbsp;In 2020 - 847 listings were available in Plymouth County as of 4/13/20 whereas there are only 313 homes on the market as of today. &nbsp;There was a decrease of 25.4% in the number of new listings in Barnstable County as compared to 2020 (459 less homes available).

It continues to be a Sellers market due to limited inventory throughout Plymouth County. &nbsp;Sellers are still not in a market where they need to be negotiating and they're are getting more money for their homes than they would have at this time last year. 307 homes changed their prices last year vs. 134 YTD. &nbsp;

As of April 13th, there are nearly the same amount of listings that have gone under contract with sales pending compared to last year - only a variance of 6 homes. The average days on market has continued to decrease as demand remains high in the current market.&nbsp;

 The market has continued to be extremely active even with limited inventory. &nbsp;That has not stopped as we continue through the first quarter of 2021 however with less inventory, there has been fewer sales vs 2020. &nbsp;As of April 13th home sales are up by 3.25% 2021 vs. 2020. &nbsp;The number of listings sold in Barnstable County is up 8.3% as of 4/13/21.

 Mortgage rates have increased slightly and are now beginning to level out however, they still remain lower than usual with a strong real estate market. Readily available mortgage types continue to be Conventional (Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac), Government (FHA and VA with tighter FICO score requirements), &nbsp;USDA, Mass Housing, Renovation and Jumbo (although some lenders don't have access to some of the bank investors that are doing them). &nbsp;First time home buyer rates remain low right now and many are finding that they are qualifying for Conventional Loans setting them at a better advantage for winning offers.

Here is a snapshot of the market year over year. &nbsp;There is a lot of noise about a lot of different things in real estate right now but if we look at the snapshot of year over year
metrics we can see showings are up 49.5% year-over-year. A lot of people getting out and wanting to
look at homes across the country. Purchase applications are up 39%.&nbsp;

We’re in an interesting period right
now where we’re going to start seeing some of these metrics shoot up year over year because this is
measuring the weeks when we first started the lockdown last year. So seeing significantly more purchase
applications because nobody was applying to mortgages or leaving their house, for that matter. If we look at pending deals, this is actually measuring February. Those down just slightly, but existing
home sales and new home sales both up, knocking at the door of almost 10%.&nbsp;

Where is the issue?
The issue is in inventory. We know that across the country it’s something that continues to plague us as
an industry. But overall, if we look at some of the other metrics year over year, a very strong market as
we head into the spring in April.

The other big thing that’s been going on in real estate is we’re seeing a rise in interest rates. The average
30 year fixed as recorded by Freddie Mac at 3.18% right now. To put that into perspective, we saw
towards the end of the year dipping down into the middle twos. This puts us back somewhere around
June of last year where we saw this rate environment start to slide down to the twos - historically low interest rates. A new low in the average 30
year fixed and it’s starting to come back up and really seeing the return of those rates creeping a little bit
higher as the economy improves across the country.&nbsp;

“Home sellers and homebuyers have gotten really used to extremely low rates. Rates even
in the 3% to 3.4% [range] remain extremely affordable by historic standards.”

 - George Ratiu, Senior Economist at realtor.com&nbsp;

We’ve been talking about how rates are going to continue to rise as the economy improves. We do expect in the
coming month that we will get estimates and forecasts for what experts are saying the remainder of this
year will be for the rate environment and some of those are likely going to be up-ticked. We’ve seen
Goldman Sachs saying as high as – they’re looking at the ten year treasury saying that we could be at
three and three quarters by the end of the year. Some are saying more on the lower end of
that, three and a quarter. What do we know? We know it’s probably not going to be where it’s at today and we’ll continue to see interest rates rise as we
go throughout the year and the economy improves.

Low interest rates have many people running in to buy homes and has caused the inventory challenge across the country. This is the snapshot of new listings coming into market as compared to the total listings in the country.&nbsp;

Right now across the country on average, we’re down about 52% year over year in the number of homes that are available on the market for those that want to buy them. We are seeing listings coming to market and we certainly want to see that continue to grow as we move into a strong spring market and more and more people are putting their homes on the market but right now a deficit across the country.

If we look at this map right here, we can see the majority of the country in this red, some states in this dark red, in 60+% down year-over-year. No doubt that low interest rates, &nbsp;the pandemic, and other pressures around housing have caused this issue of low inventory. ⤵️

Experts are forecasting inventory to come back into the market the second half of the year and more as people get more comfortable. Those that are affected by the pandemic economically and having to list their homes, builders building new homes, etc. However as we stand right now, the inventory situation across the country is pretty dramatic in lack of available homes for sale. &nbsp;

One important piece of information we want to share with you is that single family housing units that have been completed, for the last 13 years they’ve been below the 50
year average. If we go back in time you see the red bars in the middle which is around 2004, 2005, 2006. Some of the record setting times in real estate. Four consecutive years of record setting number of
units being built. There were three years in this country when more than a million and a half homes were
built. &nbsp;That never happened before and it never happened again.&nbsp;

What we know in the
housing crisis is builders were very much at the center of real estate and construction lending dried up. Following that time, builders have not been
bringing to market the number of units to keep up with population growth. If you look back in the 70s
and 80s, more homes were built in this country back then than there are today.&nbsp;

This image here
simply and effectively conveys that message to everyone that we serve that we’re in a deficit here
because the number of new units coming to market has not been there.&nbsp;

Now, builders are
building, permits are up right now. They’re concerned, obviously, about rising cost in the new home
market but what we need is more builders to build more homes to give people that want to own a home, a
chance to do so.

Some of the big things that are bearing in on our market right now relative to low inventory prices rising, one of the questions that’s come up over and over is, are we seeing this cash out refinance issue?&nbsp;

First, let’s look at this; home equity cashed out by refinances in billions. $153 billion last year cashed out as cash out refinances in this country. Back then at the height of the market, $321 billion cashed out.&nbsp;

Nowhere near what it was back then but yes, at the highest levels since the crash and so that part is true but in context, you have to understand where it was back then and we’re nowhere near where it was back then relative to the amount of cash out refinances being transacted across the country.&nbsp;

What this has caused is the amount of tappable equity that US mortgage holders have has caused it to surge. Tappable equity is defined as the amount available for a home owner to access before hitting a maximum 80% combined LTV - loan to value.&nbsp;

LTV in equity in homes is surging right now due to the way that homeowners have handled their equity over the last ten years and not accessing it. Back then, tappable equity was knocking on the door of $5 trillion and where that stands today is over $7 trillion. This is something that we want to continue to look at.

We were in an upward trending interest rate environment back in 2006 in the first half of the year. So
nobody’s going to be refinancing there to get a better deal for the most part. Where do we see it
today? We’ve been in a downward trending interest rate environment for the last year and 33% of the
refinances were cash out refinances. The total cashed out like we mentioned, $325 billion back then,
$153 billion today in 2020, representing 7% of the tappable equity back then where today it’s only 2%.
So very, very different today versus back then.&nbsp;

What are people doing with that equity? Are they
accessing it, are they misusing equity like back in the housing crisis?

They go on to talk about how that froze up the credit markets across the country. And what do we know? We know that today lending standards have changed. We know that in order to go and obtain financing for a home loan you’ve got to qualify for financing of a home loan and you’ve got to demonstrate the ability to repay. It’s very, very different. No doubt the market that we’re in is showing tremendous demand for homes across the country.&nbsp;

NAR came out and said this, speaking of demand, 

“With demand for homes outpacing new listings, buyer competition continues to intensify. On average there were four offers per home sold (closed) February”

 according to NAR’s latest February realtor confidence index report, a monthly survey of realtors about their transactions. &nbsp;

"One year ago, there were two to three buyers for every home sold. The intense competition has led to double digit price growth and properties selling in record time. To get back to a healthy supply equivalent of six months of monthly demand, an additional 2.7 million homes should be on the market for sale."

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