Massachusetts towns and cities where homes are selling really fast

Boston.com Staff

When a home goes on the market in Greater Boston, it doesn’t stay there very long.

Numbers from real estate data firm Redfin reveal that Boston-area homes are selling at a rapid pace, with the median home appearing on the market for just a week in some places. In June, Redfin reported that homes listed for sale in the Boston market spent a median of 14 days on the market (DOM), a record low.

But according to more recent data provided by Redfin to Boston.com, there are several cities and towns around Massachusetts where homes sell at an even faster rate.

August data from Redfin shows the cities of Cambridge and Somerville have some of the fastest sales in the Greater Boston area. Homes listed for sale in both cities spend a median of just seven days on the market.

In addition to spending among the fewest days on the market, listings in Somerville and Cambridge also received offers above their asking price in August. Sellers in Cambridge, where at least 95 home deals closed during the month, received 105.9 percent of their listing price while sellers in Somerville, where at least 70 deals closed, received 105.1 percent.

Further outside of Boston, properties sold just as fast. Ashland saw properties spend only five days on the market, according to Redfin, and Wakefield rivalled Cambridge and Somerville.

We sorted through Redfin’s data to find what we consider the “busiest” real estate markets in August. These are towns where at least 30 home sales were completed over the course of the month, but the median days-on-market remained strikingly low.

See the towns where homes sold the fastest in August:


Ashland. Median days on market (August): 5. Median sale price: $366,000. Homes sold: 42. Source: Redfin. Photo: John Phelan via Wikimedia Commons.

Cambridge. Median days on market (August): 7. Median sale price: $689,000. Homes sold: 94. Source: Redfin. Photo by Lisa Poole / AP.

Somerville. Median days on market (August): 7. Median sale price: $585,000. Homes sold: 70. Source: Redfin. Photo by John Blanding / Globe Staff.

Arlington. Median days on market (August): 7. Median sale price: $580,000. Homes sold: 69. Source: Redfin. Photo by John Blanding / Globe Staff.

Medford. Median days on market (August): 7. Median sale price: $416,000. Homes sold: 46. Source: Redfin. Photo by John Phelan via Wikimedia Commons.

Watertown. Median days on market (August): 7. Median sale price: $440,000. Homes sold: 39. Source: Redfin. Photo by Yoon S. Byun / Globe staff.

Wakefield. Median days on market (August): 7. Median sale price: $410,000. Homes sold: 35. Source: Redfin. Photo by Dina Rudick / Globe Staff.

Waltham. Median days on market (August): 8. Median sale price: $435,500. Homes sold: 74. Source: Redfin. Photo by Josh Reynolds for The Boston Globe.

Woburn. Median days on market (August): 8. Median sale price: $390,000. Homes sold: 57. Source: Redfin. Photo by Josh Reynolds for The Boston Globe.

Milford. Median days on market (August): 8. Median sale price: $292,000. Homes sold: 38. Source: Redfin. Photo: Jacke Ricciardi for The Boston Globe.

Boston. Median days on market (August): 9. Median sale price: $525,000. Homes sold: 608. Source: Redfin. Photo:Steven Senne / AP.

At least one property in Ipswich’s Little Neck neighborhood sold within one day of going on the market. At the other end of the spectrum, the 10 homes that closed in Rockport spent an average of 140 days on market.

The most recent data from the Massachusetts Association of Realtors (MAR), also indicates both single-family homes and condos in Massachusetts are selling faster each year. However, because MAR considers all listings statewide, not just those in the Greater Boston market, the DOM rate goes up significantly.

MAR’s most recent report, based on July 2015 data, found the average single-family home listed in Massachusetts spent an average of 77 days on the market, slightly down from 81 days the previous year.

Meanwhile, condominiums spent an average of 65 days on the market in July 2015, a slight drop from 68 days a year earlier.