Mass. home prices fall below $300,000

(File photo: Amy Sancetta/AP)

The median house price in Massachusetts for a single-family home dropped below $300,000 in September for the first time since 2003, the Warren Group reported today.

The median price plunged 15.6 percent in September compared with a year ago, to $287,500 from $340,750 in September 2007, the Warren Group, a Boston real estate and research firm, said in its monthly housing-market update.

Yet sales rose sharply, an indication the price declines were luring buyers back into the market last summer. There were 3,637 sales of single family homes in Massachusetts last month, up 8.5 percent from a year ago.

The report takes into account sales that closed in September but were negotiated in July and early August, before the current financial industry meltdown.

An increase in sales is "encouraging news," Timothy Warren, the Warren Group's chief executive, said in a statement. "However, significant problems remain for the real estate market."

Massachusetts condo sales continued to decline in September, by 9.6 percent to 1,634 units. Condo prices fell 4.7 percent to $265,000, the report said.

Meanwhile, the Massachusetts Association of Realtors also issued a monthly report today on the state's housing market. The association uses a slightly different method to track sales than the Warren Group does.

The median price for a single-family home in September was $295,000, the first time median prices have fallen below $300,000 since April 2003, said the association, which added that the September 2007 median was $340,000; on a year-to-year basis, the median price dropped 13.2 percent.

On a volume basis, the number of single-family Massachusetts homes sold in September was 3,272, up 5 percent from a year ago, the association said.

As for condominiums, the September median selling price was $255,000, 7.3 percent below the $275,000 it was a year ago, the association said.

The number of condos sold in September was 1,300, a 6.2 percent drop from September 2007, the association said.

“With median prices down below $300,000 for the first time since 2003, buyers are taking advantage of the affordable prices and starting to get back into the market,” Susan M. Renfrew, president of the Massachusetts Association of Realtors, said in a statement. “While transactions are up, we will still need to see how the changes in the financial markets and the upcoming election will impact sales going forward.”

Last week, the National Association of Realtors reported that existing home sales in the Northeast fell more than 1 percent in September from last year, while the median sales price in the region sank 5.4 percent to $246,800 - the lowest level in four years, according to an AP story that appeared in Saturday's Globe.

Please click here to read that story.
(By Kimberly Blanton and Chris Reidy, Globe staff)