The Plymouth County real estate sales market is poised to close 2023 the way it started, quietly.
Through the first eleven months of the year, housing prices and foreclosures are up modestly over 2022, but everything else, including sales and mortgage activity, remain down.
The Registry of Deeds has recorded 6,711 deeds through the first 11 months of 2023, representing a 19 percent decrease in recorded deeds over the same period in 2022. Plymouth County Register of Deeds John R. Buckley Jr. reported that unlike in most places where values have dropped, values here have continued to rise slightly over the course of the year.
“At the eleven-month mark in 2022, the average sale price in Plymouth County was $607,430,” Buckley said. “At the same point in 2023, that figure is up 2%, at $621,612.”
Plymouth County has seen a decrease in refinance activity throughout 2023.
“With only a month of activity ahead of us in 2023, we have already seen 36 percent fewer mortgages than we saw at this time in 2022,” Buckley explained. The Registry recorded 11,817 mortgages through November, 2023, compared to 18,507 mortgages through November, 2022, a 36 percent decline.
Buckley’s foreclosure report is consistent with previous reports this year. Plymouth County has recorded on the average 12 foreclosures per month. In November the Registry recorded 12 foreclosure deeds.
The number of notices initiating new foreclosures is similar to last year. Buckley reports that 495 foreclosure notices were recorded through November of this year, up 15 percent from the 431 that were recorded during the same period in 2022.
