Brookline's housing market slowed sharply in July, with closed sales falling 23.5% year-over-year to just 52 transactions and average days on market stretching to 41.6 from 37.6 a year earlier, according to MLS data analyzed by the Bushari Team at Compass.

The second half of the month was particularly quiet. Only 20 homes sold between July 13 and July 24, down 47% from 38 sales in the prior two-week window, according to Warren Group data reported by Brookline.News. Prices in that stretch ranged from $565,000 for a condo on Garrison Road near Washington Square to $5.35 million for a single-family home on Middlesex Road in Chestnut Hill.

The townwide median price for all of July hit $1,420,000, an 18.3% year-over-year increase even as fewer buyers closed deals. Nearly 60% of all sales closed below asking.

Condos hot, single-families stalling

Condominiums accounted for 43 of July's 52 sales. The median condo price surged 26.1% year-over-year to $1,257,500, and 41.9% of condos sold above asking price, up from 26% a year earlier. Median days on market for condos improved to 23 from 35.

Single-family homes told a different story. Just nine closed in July, half the 18 recorded in July 2025. About 89% of those sales closed below asking price, more than half involved price reductions, and months of supply reached 6.9, well into buyer's-market territory.

Washington Square moves fastest

Washington Square was Brookline's quickest neighborhood in July, with a 16-day median days-on-market across five sales and a median price of $1,450,000. Coolidge Corner led in volume with 18 sales, though that figure was down sharply from 35 a year ago.

As we reported July 11, late June saw 36 sales with a similarly wide price spread. The continued decline in volume since then tracks with a market where inventory remains tight: 192 active listings in July, down 11.5% from 217 a year earlier.

Cash has dominated recent buying

The slowdown lands in a market where cash has been a dominant force. A Brookline.News analysis published Jan. 7 found that 46% of Brookline buyers over the prior year purchased without a mortgage, and the average down payment on financed deals was $603,580.

"People who are making cash offers are either empty nesters who are moving in and they're house rich … or people who are getting help from a parent," managing broker Chris Remmes of Remmes & Co. told Brookline.News in January.

Retired housing attorney Jonathan Klein, a board member of Brookline for Everyone, said in the same report that middle-income buyers are being squeezed out, leaving the market to the very rich, those with generational wealth and long-time homeowners who bought years ago.

Months of supply stood at 3.8 townwide in July, just below the four-month threshold that separates seller-favorable from balanced conditions.