Marion homes sit longer as supply climbs; Planning Board weighs up to 57 townhomes

MARION Homes for sale in Marion are piling up. At the end of September, 36 were on the market, up from 22 a year earlier, and with only 16 sales from July to September, Redfin, a national real estate brokerage, put the town's supply at 6.8 months, up from 3.6. That was the highest of the 15 communities South Coast 360 covers.

The slowdown shows in other measures. Only 12 homes went under contract during the three months, down from 22, and the median home took 37 days to sell, nine days longer than a year earlier. The average sale closed at 95.7% of the asking price, down from 99.4%, and 25% of homes sold above asking, down from 31.6%. Owners listed 27 homes in the period, up from 23, at a median asking price of $1,137,591, up from $799,000.

Marion's median sale price crossed $1 million, at $1,061,994, up 35.3% from $785,000. On so few sales, that figure can swing widely. Redfin's three-month windows over the past year held between nine and 26 sales, and the median ranged from $700,000 to $1,242,500. Price per square foot fell 2.5%, to $426.11. Zillow's home value index, its estimate for a typical Marion home, stood at $829,102 in September, up 5.8% from a year earlier. Plymouth County's median for the single month of September was $648,549, Redfin figures show.

Townhomes and zoning on the agenda

Two meetings this week bear on how much housing Marion adds. On Monday, Oct. 19, at 7 p.m. in the Police Department conference room at 550 Mill St., the Planning Board holds a public hearing on a site plan for Heron Cove Estates, which the agenda describes as up to 57 townhomes, 55 as shown on the site drawings, on Wareham Street, also known as Route 6, in the Residence D District. The same agenda lists a request from Toll Brothers Inc. to reduce its bond for 78 Wareham Road.

On Thursday, Oct. 22, at 6:30 p.m. at Music Hall, 164 Front St., the Select Board, Planning Board and Zoning Board of Appeals meet jointly with town counsel on recent state zoning changes and what they mean for Marion. Marion is outside the state's MBTA Communities law.

The Census Bureau puts Marion's new single-family authorizations for January to August at seven. The town filed no monthly permit reports for those months, so that is the bureau's estimate, not a count.

Costs of owning

Marion's average single-family tax bill, $8,908 for fiscal 2026, is the highest of the 15 communities South Coast 360 covers and about 10% above the statewide average of $8,113, according to the state Department of Revenue. It rose $175, or 2.0%, from fiscal 2025. The town's single tax rate is $8.87 per $1,000 of assessed value, and the average single-family home was assessed at $1,004,280.

Mortgage rates rose this fall. Freddie Mac put the average 30-year fixed rate at 7.40% for the week of Oct. 15, against 6.27% a year earlier. On Redfin's median with 20% down, principal and interest would run about $5,882 a month at the current rate, by our arithmetic, $640 more than at last year's rate. Property taxes and insurance are not included.

A town of owners

About nine in 10 occupied homes in Marion are owner-occupied, by Census Bureau American Community Survey estimates for 2020 to 2024. The survey counted 2,631 homes, 526 of them not occupied, a group that includes seasonal houses, and about 194 renter households, too few for its rent figures to be precise. Its median rent was $1,176, and Zillow tracks no Marion rents.

Label: Reported by us, from public housing market data and records.