Home Prices Across Greater Boston Keep Climbing Amid Persistent Inventory Shortage

Home prices across greater Boston continued climbing last quarter, according to regional real estate association data, as a persistent shortage of available housing inventory keeps competition intense among buyers throughout the metro area.

The median sale price in the greater Boston market rose again compared with the same period last year, extending a multi-year trend that local real estate agents attribute to limited new construction, an aging population of homeowners who are staying in place longer, and continued demand from tech and biotech workers with high household incomes competing for a limited supply of homes.

"We're still seeing multiple offers on well-priced homes within days of listing, which tells you inventory just hasn't caught up to demand," said the president of a local Realtors association covering greater Boston. "Buyers who were hoping rates coming down would create some breathing room in this market haven't really gotten that relief yet, because more buyers came back into the market at the same time."

Local housing advocates have pointed to restrictive zoning in many suburban communities as a structural constraint on new housing supply in the region, issues that have proven difficult to address given strong resident opposition to higher-density development in many established neighborhoods. State officials have pushed the MBTA Communities zoning law as one lever to address the shortage, though implementation has varied significantly by municipality.

Real estate agents said first-time buyers have been particularly squeezed by the combination of elevated prices and mortgage rates that remain well above pre-pandemic levels, pushing many toward condominiums or homes farther from Boston than they had originally hoped to buy.