Holbrook Prices Drop 22% in First Quarter

According to The Warren Group, the median sale price for single-family homes in Holbrook was $236,900 in the first quarter of 2008 - a 22% decrease from the same time period last year. The median sale price in the first quarter of 2007 was $305,100.

Holbrook was one of several South Shore communities to see sale prices fall by 20% or more so far this year. Others included Abington (-21%), Whitman (-22%), Hull (-22%), Hanover (-23%), Bridgewater (-24%), and Scituate (-26%).

Among the 26 South Shore towns we track, the typical price drop for the first quarter of 2008 was approximately 10%. Hingham and Norwell were the only two that saw significant price increases from the prior year - up 18% and 14%, respectively.

Long-Range Forecast

Recently, we've been hearing more and more sellers (plus potential sellers, who were considering putting their home on the market) say they'd prefer to wait a year or two until prices rebound. While that may sound like a good idea if you don't need to sell right away, recent history has shown that while prices should eventually rebound, it may take A LOT longer than a year or two for prices to return to the peak levels we saw in 2005 and 2006.

From 1988-1991, median sale prices in our hometown of Holbrook dropped 12%. If you were considering selling at that time, but decided to wait until prices rebounded, you would have had to wait ANOTHER SEVEN YEARS for prices to return to 1988 levels! It wasn't until 1999 that the median sale price in Holbrook finally surpassed where it had been in 1988.

The lesson? If you're waiting for prices to return to 2005 levels before selling, you may have to wait a very long time.