Somerset's median sale price climbs 11% as bidding cools

SOMERSET Somerset's median sale price rose 11.1% this summer, to $549,438 from $494,500 in the same three months of 2025, according to Redfin, a national real estate brokerage. It was the highest three-month median the town has posted in the past year.

Fewer homes sold, 45 compared with 52, and fewer of them sold quickly. Redfin found that 46.1% of homes went under contract within two weeks of listing, down from 68.1% a year earlier, and 47.7% sold above the asking price, down from 59.6%.

Price per square foot, which adjusts for size, slipped 0.9%, to $326.58 from $329.44. When the median rises and the price per square foot does not, the gain usually reflects the mix of homes that happened to sell more than any broad rise in values. Zillow's home value index, which estimates the worth of a typical Somerset home, rose a more modest 3.0% over the year, to $510,036 in September.

Redfin's town figures cover rolling three-month windows and include only sales through listing services. With about 45 sales in a window, the median can swing on a few transactions. For most of the past year it stayed between $510,000 and $535,000 before reaching the latest level.

Steady pace, thin supply

Other measures barely moved. The median home took 21 days to sell, the same as a year earlier, and homes sold on average for 101% of their list price, also unchanged. Owners listed 55 homes, compared with 54, and 74 were for sale at some point in the period, compared with 75.

Supply grew, though from a low level. Twenty-nine homes were still unsold when September ended, up from 23, or 2.0 months of supply by Redfin's measure, up from 1.4. The median asking price was $534,093, up from $524,900.

Bristol County's September median, $557,752 by Redfin's count, was about $8,300 higher than Somerset's. The county number is for a single month, so the comparison is approximate.

Taxes and borrowing

The town taxes homes at $12.93 per $1,000 of assessed value, the highest residential rate among the 15 communities South Coast 360 covers, and commercial property at $25.24. Its average single-family bill for fiscal 2026 was $6,278, up $244, or 4.0%, from $6,034, according to the state Department of Revenue. That is about three-quarters of the statewide average of $8,113. Somerset's average single-family assessment was $485,506. Somerset's average bill tops those of neighboring Swansea, $5,623, and Fall River, $4,651, by the same state figures.

Mortgage rates add to the cost. Freddie Mac's weekly survey had the 30-year fixed rate at 7.40% on average for the week of Oct. 15, against 6.27% in the same week of 2025. On Somerset's median price with 20% down, principal and interest would run about $3,043 a month at the current rate, by our arithmetic, $331 more than at last year's rate, before taxes and insurance.

Census Bureau figures estimate that 24 new homes were authorized in Somerset from January to August, six single-family houses and 18 units in three buildings with five or more units. Somerset filed no monthly reports for those months, so the totals are Census Bureau estimates, not permits the town reported. Somerset is not among the communities the state's MBTA Communities law covers.

Luther's Landing review

On Tuesday, Oct. 20, at 6 p.m. in the first-floor hearing room at Town Hall, 140 Wood St., the Planning Board takes up the Luther's Landing subdivision. The board will review whether the Karissa Lyn Court roadway is complete and whether to release, hold or use the developer's performance bond.

Renters

Renters are a small share of Somerset, but many are stretched. Nearly nine in 10 households own their homes, by Census Bureau American Community Survey estimates for 2020 to 2024, and 55.3% of renters spend 30% or more of their income on rent. The survey put Somerset's median rent at $1,271. Zillow's observed rent index for asking rents was $2,000 in September, with no year-earlier figure for the town.

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