Mass Housing Market Still Attractive Despite Foreclosures

Wednesday, August 29, 2012

Adam Joseph Drici, GoLocalWorcester Contributor

It’s no secret that the housing market took a big hit following the 2008 recession but now, almost four years later, Massachusetts is finally starting to turn around.

And as any one who’s rooted for the Red Sox for the past decade knows, if there’s one thing Bay Staters do well— it’s a come back.

“Definitely home sales are up and we have seen prices also go up,” said Wendy Johnson, of Remax Professional Associates in Spencer.

Diane DeCiccio, president of the Worcester Regional Association of Realtors, said that while it looks like foreclosures are going up, the increase is more likely a result of the end of the moratorium in effect during 2011.

"A lot of them are getting sold to private investors which is moving the market along,” DeCiccio explained.

“I think they're coming on and they're being sold, being rehabbed, and being flipped.”

Although prices are going up, the landscape of Massachusetts’s real estate is still very much a buyer's market.

Johnson said she has seen the number of younger and first time homebuyers remain stable in the under $300,000 market.

“One of my favorite demographics to work with is the first time home buyer because they're always so excited,” says Johnson.

“Consumer confidence is high, people are excited, and rates are extremely low. It's a great time to buy.”

But while the housing market is on the upswing, the revitalization is not without its growing pains.

Setbacks like pipes being stolen, water damage, and mold have taken their toll on properties that have been sitting on the market for long periods of time.

However, agents have seen a 4.4 percent increase from April 1 to July 1 of 2012 in the sale of distressed properties, which Johnson attributes to private investors buying up the distressed properties in order to fix them up and flip them for a profit.

“I think we're getting better,” DeCiccio concluded.

“We're inching slowly toward recovery. All signs are pointing in the right direction."