Why Right Now Is a Buyer's Opportunity in MA and NH

By Chris Doherty

Christian Doherty lists and sells more homes than any other agent in the Greater Lowell, Massachusetts market with over 300 homes sold in the past 12 months. Chris is ranked in the top 1% of all agents in the United States.

Every month, I like to give you a quick update on this real estate market, where we’ve been, where we are, and where we’re going, and I’ll give you the headline right up front: if you’re a buyer, now is your time. Let me walk you through why.

Start with rates, because they drive everything. Rates are staying high, and here’s the chain behind it. Global instability has kept oil prices elevated, and when oil stays high, inflation is harder to bring down. When inflation stays stubborn, interest rates stay high right along with it. As I record this, rates are hovering around 7%. You might do a little better in the sixes, potentially better still on a 15-year fixed, and I’m seeing some buyers use adjustable-rate mortgages that lock a lower rate for five, seven, or ten years before adjusting. However you slice it, the headline is that rates are high, and high rates mean you can’t borrow as much and your payment buys less.

That squeeze is reshaping the market. Buyers are feeling it: rates near 7%, prices still high, and affordability stretched. In response, supply is climbing and homes are taking longer to sell across both Massachusetts and New Hampshire. But here’s the important part. When I look across the state, Lawrence, Haverhill, Lowell, Salem, Worcester, Boston, down to Quincy, most markets are still showing price appreciation. Prices in 2026 are still higher than they were in 2025. So two things are happening at once: prices are up year over year, and supply is up year over year.

Those price drops on Zillow aren’t what they look like. If you’ve been watching Zillow, Realtor, or even my own Doherty Properties site, you may be looking at homes dropping in price and thinking, “I’ve never seen price drops like this, why is it happening?” Here’s the real answer, and it’s not what most people assume. The market isn’t dropping prices dramatically. What’s happening is that sellers are overshooting, listing 6, 7, 8, 9, even 10% above where the market actually is. When they price that high and it doesn’t sell, they have to come back down to where the market really is, and in the end, they’re still selling higher than they would have in 2025. So those “price drops” are mostly overpricing corrections, not a falling market. Some sellers still think they should be overpricing like the frenzy days, an agent takes the listing and tries it, the home doesn’t get that number, and the price comes down to reality.

If you’re a buyer, this is your moment. Historically, the best time to buy real estate is from around Thanksgiving to the beginning of the year, and right now is a great time to start looking and getting into the market. Here’s why the opportunity is real: not long ago, I couldn’t get you a house easily because there was almost nothing on the market, and 5, 10, 15, even 20 buyers were chasing the same one home. Now there’s supply, so we can actually pick and choose a little. You might have three, four, five options to consider. I’m not saying you won’t have competition, good homes still attract it, but you have a much better chance of winning, a much better chance of negotiating, and a much better chance of finally getting the home you’ve been waiting for.

Keep the long view in mind. So my advice is simple: get in the game, and live your life. When I looked at the Case-Shiller home price index, the one that tracks real estate values over time, the story is clear: over the long run, real estate prices rise. There are blips along the way, but the long-term direction has always been up.

If you’d like help figuring out what this market means for your specific situation, I’m here for you. Call or text me at (978) 746-0124, email me at chris@dohertyproperties.com, or visit dohertyproperties.com. I look forward to talking with you soon.