iStock illustration

Could the suburban shift in Greater Boston homebuyer demand be on the wane? That’s what Zillow researchers are suggesting in a new report out this morning.

The median home in what the listings portal site’s analysts call “suburban” ZIP codes in Greater Boston gained $80,943 in value between July 2021 and March 2022 compared to a $63,747 value gain in “urban” ZIP codes, despite the latter being more expensive. Researchers found the median home value in Greater Boston urban ZIP codes sat at $742,060 in March, compared to $616,492 in suburban areas.

In their research, Zillow researchers combined condominiums and single-family homes into a single category.

“At the beginning of the pandemic, home values in urban areas generally outpaced suburban areas, counter to what many expected during the rush for more space,” Zillow economist Nicole Bachaud, speaking about national-level trends, said in a statement. “And while urban home value gains have continued to accelerate, the suburbs are even hotter, showing just how strong demand is for limited suburban inventory. That could mean competition for homes will be lighter near city centers this home shopping season, something we haven’t been able to say for nearly a decade. That’s not to say shopping for a home in the city will be a leisurely affair, but any sliver of opportunity for buyers is welcome in this market.”

However, Greater Boston buyers hoping for deals in neighborhoods closer to downtown may be disappointed. Researchers say this trend began to reverse itself in San Francisco, Columbus, New York City, Seattle and Boston in the first three months of 2022. In each area, the gap between annual home value growth in the suburbs and in urban areas shrank over that time period. And nationally, annual suburban home value growth outpaced urban home value growth by about $7,250 in December, but only by about $4,820 in March.

Region-wide, two different measures of homebuyer competition showed different readings last month. Redfin reported that only 74.8 percent of the offers its agents wrote in Greater Boston met with competition in April, compared to 79.2 percent in both March 2022 and April 2021.

However, the Greater Boston Association of Realtors – whose territory is smaller than either Redfin’s or Zillow’s definition of “Greater Boston” and largely fits within the Route 128 area plus MetroWest – reported that the average condominium sold for 102.8 percent of the asking price and the average single-family sold for 108 percent more last month. Both figures are increases on a year-over-year and a month-over-month basis. The average condominium sold for 101.9 percent of the list price in March and 99.8 percent in April 2021, GBAR said, while the average single-family went for 106.1 percent of the list price in March and 104.5 percent in April 2021. The average number of days until a condo listing went off-market inched up from 16 in March to 17 in April, while the average for single-family listings moved from 12 days in March to 13 percent.