Mass. home sales, prices fall
Massachusetts single-family home sales had their worst January in at least 21 years, according to a report from the Warren Group, a Boston company that tracks New England real estate data.
"Single-family home sales fell 28.3 percent from 2,943 sales in January 2007 to 2,110 in January 2008," reported the Warren Group, which is also the publisher of Banker & Tradesman . "The median price for single-family homes dropped 4.4 percent from $340,000 to $325,000."
It was the worst sales performance for a January since the Warren Group began tracking real estate data in 1987, the firm said.
“This was a weak start for 2008’s housing market, but it was not unexpected,” Tim Warren Jr., Warren Group chief executive, said in a statement. “Sales have shown notable weakness since September 2007, and that trend continued in January.”
The Warren Group analysis of January sales echoed a separate report out today from the Massachusetts Association of Realtors, which uses a different method to track real estate activity.
According to the realtors association, the number of Massachusetts single-family homes sold in January fell 27.7 percent from January 2007, and the median selling price fell 5.6 percent, from $340,000 in January 2007 to $321,000 in January 2008.
January condo sales in Massachusetts fell 33.7 percent on a year-to-year basis, but the median selling price for a condo rose 3.5 percent, from $268,000 in January 2007 to $277,500 in January 2008, the Massachusetts Association of Realtors said, and in January, 1,984 single family homes were sold in Massachusetts, and there were 843 condo sales, the association said.
The Warren Group said: "Condominium sales declined 36.2 percent in January from 1,778 to 1,135. The median price fell 1.5 percent from $274,000 for sales in January 2007 to $270,000 for sales made in January 2008."
Association president Susan M. Renfrew said in a statement: “There is no question January reflects the anxiety people were feeling about the economy that last two months of 2007. However, this continues to be a buyer’s market, and there is opportunity. That, combined with low interest rates and the economic stimulus package recently signed by President Bush, should help the market.”
Tim Warren of the Warren Group offered his assessment of the local housing market in his statement.
“Judging by the last few months of lackluster sales and the ever-increasing number of foreclosures, which can create a glut of low-cost homes on the market, these downward trends are many months from ending,” Warren said. “The market is getting better and better for potential homebuyers as prices drop. But we have yet to see increased buyer interest translate into increased sales.”
Yesterday the National Association of Realtors reported that sales of existing homes nationwide fell to a nine-year low.
(By Chris Reidy, Globe staff)
