June 2026 Massachusetts Housing Report

June was the month the backlog cleared.

After five months of falling closings and rising pending sales, the two finally met. Essex County sales rose 1.4%, Middlesex 0.1% and Worcester 2.0% — modest numbers, but the first time most of the region moved positive together in 2026. And pending sales kept climbing: Worcester up 40.4%, Essex up 29.7%, Middlesex up 23.0%.

Statewide, 4,750 single-family homes closed across all fourteen counties.

The short version

• Sales turned positive in Essex, Middlesex and Worcester
• Pending sales surged again — Worcester +40.4%, Essex +29.7%
• Above asking in all five counties — 102.4% in Essex and Norfolk
• Homes sold in 28 to 35 days, the fastest of the year
• Inventory still falling in all five counties — Norfolk down 16.6%

What happened across the region

June resolved the tension that had run through the spring. The pending sales that piled up from March onward converted into closings, and for the first time the closing figures stopped understating the market.

They did not overstate it either. Sales rose 1.4% in Essex, 0.1% in Middlesex and 2.0% in Worcester, while falling 2.1% in Norfolk and 4.2% in Suffolk. Level, roughly, with June 2025 — which after five months of declines represents genuine recovery.

The forward indicators did not slow. Worcester pending sales rose 40.4%, Essex 29.7%, Middlesex 23.0% and Norfolk 19.9%. Three counties above 20%, with Worcester above 40% for a second consecutive month.

And supply kept tightening. Inventory fell in all five counties — Norfolk 16.6%, Worcester 8.0%, Middlesex 6.4% — even as new listings rose in four of them. The market absorbed everything that arrived.

Prices flattened. Essex rose 1.8%, Suffolk 2.7%, while Middlesex fell 1.7%, Norfolk 2.3% and Worcester 3.7%. After a spring of double-digit county gains, June's medians barely moved.

County by county

Essex County closed 506 sales, up 1.4%, at a median of $819,125, up 1.8% — its highest of the year. Homes sold in 28 days at 102.4% of original list. Pending sales rose 29.7% to 616 and new listings rose 13.9%.

Middlesex County closed 1,034 sales, up 0.1%, at a median of $925,000, down 1.7%. Homes sold in 29 days at 102.2% of original list. Inventory fell 6.4% to 1,427 homes despite new listings rising 10.7%.

Norfolk County closed 523 sales, down 2.1%, at a median of $850,000, down 2.3%. Pending sales rose 19.9% to 614 against inventory down 16.6% — the sharpest inventory contraction in the region that month.

Suffolk County recorded 115 single-family closings, down 4.2%, at a median of $852,000, up 2.7%. The condo market strengthened notably: 445 sales at a median of $799,000, up 11.7% — the strongest condo price gain in the region that month.

Worcester County closed 669 sales, up 2.0%, at a median of $525,000, down 3.7%. Pending sales rose 40.4% to 869 and new listings rose 14.6%. Worcester sold at 101.1% of original list, the region's narrowest margin above asking.

What this means if you're buying

Conditions in June were the toughest of the year in practical terms — under 30 days to sell in three counties, above asking in all five — but the price signal had turned. Medians fell year over year in three of five counties. Buying in June cost less relative to a year earlier than buying in April did.

Condo prices rose in four of five counties — Suffolk 11.7% to $799,000, Norfolk 7.4%, Essex 5.7%, Worcester 4.6% — while single-family medians fell in three. The two segments moved apart.

The Worcester-to-Middlesex spread stood at $400,000. Worcester's 40.4% pending surge suggests that gap was being actively arbitraged.

What this means if you're selling

June cleared inventory efficiently and sellers got above asking in all five counties. But the price signal changed, and it matters more than the speed.

Medians fell year over year in Middlesex, Norfolk and Worcester. Greater Boston stopped appreciating in June — it kept transacting quickly at roughly last year's prices. That is a market rewarding correct pricing and punishing ambition, and it argues for pricing to recent comparable sales rather than to a trend.

About this data

Figures are from the Massachusetts Association of REALTORS® Local Market Update for June 2026, drawn from the Berkshire County MLS, Cape Cod & Islands Association of REALTORS®, Inc. and MLS Property Information Network, Inc. Data provided by MAR, © ShowingTime Plus, LLC.

"Percent of Original List Price Received" divides sale price by the original list price, which differs from the New Hampshire reports' use of the most recent list price — the two are not directly comparable. "Median sales price" does not account for seller concessions.

MAR notes that activity for one month can look extreme in smaller counties due to sample size. Suffolk County single-family figures rest on a small number of transactions.