SPRINGFIELD – Hampden County Register of Deeds Donald Ashe released his real estate projections for the county during his semiannual press conference last Wednesday on the fourth floor of the County’s Hall of Justice in Springfield.
Ashe informed that the county experienced a “sub-par year”, with only $1.177 billion being spent on real estate in the county, which still has a 6.8 percent unemployment rate, above the Commonwealth of Massachusetts (5.8 percent) and the United States (5.6 percent) rates.
That $1.177 billion is still an increase of four percent from the previous year, when $1.134 billion was spent. This is due, in large part, to the arrival of MGM Springfield, who have carved out space in the city’s South End to erect their new resort casino and spent $28.7 million on the year.
The Register of Deeds collected $11.794 million in revenue for the year, down 11 percent from 2013 when it brought in $13.224 million.
In his recap of 2014, Ashe said the total number of deeds registered fell three percent from 9,306 in 2013 to 9,022, while the number of new mortgages registered fell 29 percent from 15,451 to 10,913.
The number of foreclosures in Hampden County rose five percent from 351 in 2013 to 369 in 2014.
As for his 2015 forecast, Ashe said he expects it to be an improvement over 2014 due to current 30-year fixed rate of 3.8 percent, which he believes will reach as high as five percent or greater by year’s end.
According to an email from Ben Scranton, CEO of the Realtor Association of the Pioneer Valley, sales of single-family homes in 2014 rose 0.6 percent, with a median price up 2.7 percent to $192,500, while sales in the month of December were up 9.2 percent, the median price rising 1.9 percent to $183,250.
Inventory of single-family homes rose 0.9 percent from 1,956 single family listings at the end of December 2013 to 1,973 single family listings at the end of December 2014.
At the end of December 2013 there were 5.1 months supply at the current rate of sale, while there were 4.7 months of supply at current rate of sale at the end of December 2014.
According to Scranton’s data, the average days on market was up 3.3 percent from 121 days in 2013 to 125 days in 2014.
A Six-Year View—Median price rose four percent from $185,000 in 2009 to $192,500 in 2014, while 12 Monthly View—Sales were up six of the last 12 months. The median price was up 10 of the last 12 months.
As for mortgage rates, 30-year fixed-rate mortgage (FRM) averaged 4.48 percent for the week ending December 26, 2013. Last year at this time, the 30-year FRM averaged 3.35 percent.
Ted Cassell, owner of Westfield’s Park Square Realty, confirmed yesterday that he would not be in attendance in Springfield today, but said that in Westfield, foreclosures have slowed down considerably.
“Overall, our market has really stabilized. I think the economy is improving and, in general, we have a pretty stable market versus obviously places like Springfield,” he said.
Regarding what he expects for the coming year’s market, Cassell is anticipating a good showing for the greater Westfield-Southwick region.
“The interest rates continue to be very attractive. You’re looking at 3.75 (percent) for a 30-year fixed rate mortgage,” he said. “Over the next six months, I think you’ll see the inventory start to pick up, with people getting their houses on the market.”
Cassell described the general vibe among realtors, lenders and customers heading into the meat of 2015 as “optimistic.”
“It’s interesting. We’ve seen a lot of sales in the moderate prices and we’re anticipating that the $350,000-and-up sales should increase, as well,” he said, adding that 385 single family properties were sold in 2014 in the greater Westfield-Southwick area, with the average home spending 105 days on the market.
He added that the average sale price was $234,000.
“The biggest segment that sold was $150,000 to 250,000, which is a pretty affordable number for a lot of folks,” concluded Cassell.
