Mass. home sales rise in January
The volume of monthly Massachusetts single family home sales rose for the first time in two years in January, a hopeful sign perhaps for the slumping housing market, according to a sales report out today.
There is a downside for sellers however: prices fell 3.4 percent.
The number of single family homes sold in the Bay State last month was 3,304, up 5.1 percent from 3,144 from January 2006, reported the Warren Group, a provider of New England real estate data and publisher of Banker & Tradesman.
Meanwhile, median prices for single families dropped from $325,000 in January 2006 to $314,000 in January 2007, continuing a trend of declining prices that has been in effect since May, the Warren Group said.
The volume of Massachusetts condominium sales rose 2.8 percent in January, from 1,821 a year ago to 1,871, and the median sale price remained flat at $267,500, the Warren Group said.
"The rise in sales, while not yet a trend, could be a hopeful sign for the housing market," Timothy Warren Jr. , chief executive of the Warren Group, said in a statement. "When sales started to fall in 2005, it was almost a year before prices did the same. The opposite could be true now. If sales continue to climb, it could take several months for prices to increase again. It can take time for supply and demand to even out, and homebuyers need to see strong evidence of an increase in sales before they become more willing to compromise over what they will pay for a home."
(By Chris Reidy, Globe staff)
