Two reports are out on the local housing market

(File photo: Rebecca Cook/Reuters)

The median price for a single-family home sold in Massachusetts during March was $255,000, or 16.1 percent lower than the $304,000 median price recorded in March 2008, the Warren Group said today in a monthly report on the local housing market.

The median price for a single-family Massachusetts home was $245,000 in February 2009 and $259,250 in January 2009, the Warren Group has said in earlier monthly reports.

A total of 2,453 Massachusetts single-family homes were sold in March 2009, down 7.4 percent from 2,648 sold during the same month in 2008, said the Warren Group, which added that the sales pace for the first quarter of 2009 was the slowest pace for a first quarter since 1991.

Headquartered in Boston, the Warren Group tracks local real estate data and publishes Banker & Tradesman.

“The single-family median home price has fallen below $300,000 for seven consecutive months" on a year-to-year basis, Timothy Warren Jr., chief executive of the Warren Group, said in a statement. "Reduced prices could help stimulate home sales going forward. But I don’t think we’ve hit bottom yet because home sales haven’t picked up consistently. We saw some increases in sales volume toward the end of last year, but there needs to be steady sales gains for three to four quarters before prices begin to level off.”

The March 2009 median price for a Massachusetts condo was down 15.2 percent to $229,000 from $270,000 in March 2008, the report added. Condo sales in March totaled 1,135, a 22.3 percent decrease from 1,460 a year earlier, said the Warren Group, which noted that condo sales have fallen by 20 percent or more for 12 out of the last 15 months.

Separately, the Massachusetts Association of Realtors issued its own monthly report this morning on the local housing market. The association and the Warren Group use different methods to track housing activity.

The median price for a single-family home sold in Massachusetts during March was $255,000, down 19 percent from $315,000 in March 2008, but up 1 percent from $252,500 in February 2009, the association said.

On a volume basis, 2,234 single-family homes were sold in Massachusetts during March 2009, down 4.7 percent from March 2008, the association said.

As for condos in the Bay State, the March 2009 median sales price was $224,500, down 14.9 percent from a year ago, but up 5.3 percent from the February 2009 median price, the association said.

The number of Massachusetts condos sold during March was 877, down 19.8 percent from March 2008, the association said.

“Despite consumer uncertainty in the economy, the spring home buying season has brought a traditional influx of home buyers, which is positive,” Gary Rogers, president of the Massachusetts Association of Realtors, said in a statement. “With the drop in prices, conditions still favor the buyer, especially the first-time home buyer, and we do expect they will continue to respond well to the first-time home-buyer tax credit that was signed into law by President Obama in February.”
(By Chris Reidy, Globe staff)