Fellow Kingstonians,
As you read this, I suspect you are squeezing every last drop of goodness out of this New England summer. If you are so inclined, I encourage the grown folks who find their way to Gray’s Beach on a Saturday to stop over at the Forty Second Brew Company Beach Bar from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. and get themselves something to drink. The Forty Second guys are nice fellows. You will be supporting a fantastic local business while also making sure you don’t get parched. The sun is hot. It can happen quickly. Be careful out there and stay hydrated.
On the real estate front, I bring you news of stability and improvement on one key front. As of the deadline for this month’s issue, the average sale price per square foot of a single-family home in Kingston for the second quarter of the year is $390. In Q2 last year, the average price per square foot was $400. Given the relatively small number of homes that sell in Kingston per quarter, the average can be skewed by one home sale that sells for a very high or very low price. With that in mind, I see that slight decline of 2.5% from last year to this year as a blip on the radar screen.
The number that jumps out to me is the number of days that a property remains on the market before accepting an offer. As I’ve noted in previous columns here, many properties in Kingston and the South Shore as a whole sat on the market for months last spring because of a combination of the leveling of the market and sellers’ asking prices being too high due to the belief that the arrow was still on the way up. In the spring of 2025, the average number of days on market before an accepted offer for a single-family home in Kingston was 23.73 days. This spring, it is 11.88 days.
This number is the one that leaps off the page to me because it is a direct reflection of what I am experiencing as a Realtor in real life. Multiple offers are back. There are plenty of very serious buyers out there right now. I wish I could give you an overarching catch-all reason for this, but I can speak to a degree about it based on the personal conversations that I am having with clients and other Realtors. In my experience, some of the folks in the market right now see their friends and family members backing off due to uncertainty in the world, including inflation, gas prices, and war, and they consider this a time to strike. Moreover, we do have a bit of an exodus on our hands, with people moving out of Massachusetts for a myriad of reasons. While this market isn’t exactly gangbusters from an inventory standpoint, the urgency with which people are listing and buying has seen a notable uptick.
If you are looking for a professional’s opinion on real estate, you know where to find me. I am here to get you to the next step in your journey as peacefully and profitably as possible.
Before I go, I just want to send my love to the Kingston Foundation for Education. This was my second year being one of the prime sponsors for their annual Fun Run, and I am honored to have been a part of their fundraising efforts. In a time when schools all over the state have had budgets slashed and have had to tap dance around overrides, these private fundraising efforts make all the difference in the world. This year’s Fun Run raised a total of $64,615. My hat’s off to all of you in the KFE. You are wonderful people who are truly making a difference.
Enjoy the rest of your summer, Kingstonians.
Doug
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