Maybe it's not location, location, location — now, it is simply the price.

Massachusetts residents continue to gobble up Rhode Island homes, and it is simply a math problem.

In March, the median sales price for a single-family home in Greater Boston jumped 10.4% year over year to a record high for the month, according to The Warren Group.That Boston metro area price is now $740,000.

Buying in Rhode Island is a bargain in comparison, thus driving thousands and thousands of Commonwealth residents to shop for homes at what they see as a good buy.

Statewide in Rhode Island, the median price of a single-family home in March was $440,000 — a 4.4% increase over March of 2023.

The median sales price for all of Massachusetts increased by 7.4% to $580,000 in March.

Geb Masterson of Mott & Chace Sotheby’s International said in an interview on GoLocal LIVE, “The Boston area is always going to be more expensive I think those numbers make it about $300,000 more expensive than the median house here in RI.”

Masterson said with more people able to work outside of the office one or more days per week, working in Boston makes it easy and attractive to live in Rhode Island and is far more inexpensive.

Masterson, who is one of the top realtors in South County with a focus on the Watch Hill area, has seen a number of major real estate cycles.

Inventory RI —Critically Low

Meanwhile, while the number of listings in Massachusetts was down 7.4% in March year-over-year, it pales to the fall of inventory in Rhode Island. 

Here, the supply of inventory plummeted from just 2.7 months in 2023 to just 1.1 months in 2024.

Inventory is down 30% in Rhode Island in just a year. That decline is believed to be directly tied to spiking interest rates - now in the 7% range for a 30-year mortgage.

“There's just so little inventory. I mean, we had an open house this weekend, and I literally had a woman crying in the front yard because she missed out on the house,” said Masterson.