Swansea's median sale price keeps climbing, reaching a one-year high

SWANSEA Swansea's median sale price has risen almost every month this year. For the three months ending in September, it reached $569,729, according to Redfin, a national real estate brokerage, the highest of the 12 rolling windows Redfin has reported since last fall and up from $464,500 in the window ending in January.

Redfin updates its town figures monthly, each covering the latest three months. Of the eight updates since January, seven showed a higher median than the one before. Compared with July to September of 2025, the gain is smaller: the median was up 1.9% from $559,250.

Swansea is a small market, and the numbers carry that caveat. Redfin counted 41 sales in the latest window, up from 38, and only sales through listing services are included. The count also varies: the window ending in January, covering November to January, held 38 sales, while the one ending in July held 54.

A size-adjusted measure moved the other way. The median price per square foot fell 11.3%, to $338.16 from $381.10, which means the higher median did not come from homes selling for more per foot of living space. Zillow's home value index, which estimates the worth of a typical home, put Swansea at $520,240 in September, up 3.7% from a year earlier.

Slower sales, more bidding

Homes took longer to sell. The median home spent 26 days on the market, a week longer than a year earlier, and 37.4% went under contract within two weeks, down from 58.3%, Redfin data show.

Yet the homes that did sell drew stronger prices against their listings. Nearly half, 47.5%, sold above the asking price, up from 34.2%, and the average sale closed at 100.9% of list, up from 99.6%.

Buyers had more to look at. Redfin counted 87 homes for sale at some point in the period, up from 75, and 39 still on the market at the end of September, up from 26, or 3.0 months of supply compared with 2.1. Sellers listed 53 homes, about the same as last year's 51, at a median asking price of $514,292, up from $479,888.

Swansea's median ran about $12,000 above Bristol County's September median of $557,752, according to Redfin. That county figure covers one month, so the comparison is loose. The Fall River Registry of Deeds' list of significant sales recorded from January to March included three Swansea single-family homes, the costliest at $2.3 million.

Tax bills jump

The average single-family tax bill in Swansea rose $381, or 7.3%, to $5,623 for fiscal 2026, from $5,242, according to the state Department of Revenue. That was the largest percentage increase among the 15 communities South Coast 360 covers; Fall River's 5.3% was next. Swansea's bill is still about 69% of the statewide average of $8,113. Swansea's residential rate is $11.36 per $1,000 of assessed value, against $17.95 for commercial property, and its average single-family assessment was $494,954.

Borrowing costs are higher, too. The 30-year fixed rate averaged 7.40% for the week of Oct. 15 in Freddie Mac's survey, compared with 6.27% a year earlier. With 20% down on Swansea's median, principal and interest come to about $3,156 a month at the current rate, by our arithmetic, $344 more than a year ago, not counting taxes or insurance.

New homes and renters

Census Bureau data estimate that Swansea authorized 17 new homes from January to August: 11 single-family houses and six units in three two-family buildings. The town reported permits for six of those eight months, covering 14 of the homes, and the bureau estimated the rest. The state's MBTA Communities law, which requires some towns to zone for multifamily housing, does not cover Swansea.

About 85% of Swansea households own their homes, by Census Bureau American Community Survey estimates for 2020 to 2024. Among renters, 56.2% spend 30% or more of their income on rent, and the survey's median rent was $1,226. Swansea is not among the towns in Zillow's rent index.

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