Hingham Real Estate Boom: Tight Supply, Soaring Demand

Hingham has historically been a strong real estate market, but the last year is unprecedented in many ways. “It’s crazy,” says Jill O’Donnell. “It feels like all logic has gone out the window.” That’s how the Hingham mom describes her exhausting hunt for a new home. The pandemic has fueled a suburban real estate boom that has driven up prices and made it a kill or be killed seller’s market. Open houses canceled before they’d begun. Buyers snatching up houses sight unseen. Inspections waived. Cash offers a hundred thousand dollars or more over asking and escalation clauses becoming the new norm.

“It’s really a perfect storm,” says Wallis Bowyer, a broker at Coldwell Banker Realty in Hingham. Bowyer says city dwellers want to spread out in the suburbs, locals want more from their current home and historically low interest rates have sent demand skyrocketing with supply as tight as a drum. “It’s a wild ride at the moment,” Bowyer says.

But while bidding wars in this real estate boom are full throttle, what will climbing prices mean for the fabric of a small town? “I would say my biggest worry as a buyer’s agent is that you have to look at it any particular property and say, ‘What is this going to look like in five years? What is this going to look like in 10 years?'” says Bowyer. “Some properties you say this is such a great area and the house has all the bells and whistles and you really don’t have to worry about the value, but there are some homes I lose sleep over because…you’re never going to get this money back.”

In this episode we look at prices, practices and what the future could hold for families. Join us!