Mass. home sales soar in December

Globe Staff

The median price for a Massachusetts home sold in December rose 10.4 percent to $295,000 from $267,250 in December 2008, the first increase in monthly median home prices on a year-over-year basis since September 2007, the Warren Group reported.

On a volume basis, December home sales jumped 16.8 percent to 3,350 from 2,868 in December 2008, the sixth straight month single-family home sales increased statewide, said the Warren Group, a Boston firm that tracks real estate activity and publishes Banker & Tradesman.

As for condominiums in Massachusetts, December condo sales surged 28.9 percent to 1,610 from 1,249 a year earlier, the Warren Group said. "December was the fourth consecutive month that condo sales increased in Massachusetts. And the median condo price in December climbed 5.9 percent to $249,990 from $236,000 in December 2008."

When the Warren Group looked at Massachusetts residential real estate activity for the full year of 2009, the numbers continued to reflect a struggling national economy.

Still, for the full year, single-family home sales in Massachusetts crept up 3 percent in 2009 from 2008, reversing a four-year trend of sliding sales, the Warren Group said, as a federal home buyer tax credit helped boost sales volumes in the late part of 2009. One wild card: That tax credit is set to expire in the spring.

In any case, median home prices dropped 6.6 percent from 2008 in Massachusetts and were almost 20 percent lower than the market peak in 2005.

"The median price for single-family homes dropped 6.6 percent to $285,000 from $305,000," the Warren Group said. "The year-over-year decline is more moderate than the 11 percent decline in 2008 and the 10.6 percent drop in 2007. Still, 2009 was the first year that the median home price fell below $300,000 since 2002."

Warren Group chief executive Timothy M. Warren Jr. commented on the results in a statement.

"The latter part of 2009 gave us some clear signs that the housing market is stabilizing and heading for a recovery, and while prices were still falling, the percentage drop last year wasn’t as steep as it was in the previous two years," Timothy Warren said. "What’s more, December was the first month in more than two years that the monthly median home price climbed year-over-year. The improving economy and the homebuyer tax credit definitely helped fuel home sales."

Condominium sales continued to slide last year, the Warren Group said. Condo sales last year fell to the lowest level since 1996. A total of 18,743 condos traded in 2009, down 6.8 percent from 20,109 in 2008. 

Separately, the Massachusetts Association of Realtors issued a monthly report of its own on the local housing market. The association uses a different method to track real estate activity than the Warren Group does. Nevertheless, the association's results for December were roughly similar to those of the Warren Group's.

In its report, the Massachusetts Association of Realtors said that the median sale prices of single-family home sales and condominiums were each up 10.9 percent when compared with December 2008. This is the first time prices have gone up by double digits since 2005.

The association said: "The median selling price for single-family homes in December was $305,000, an increase of 10.9 percent compared to $275,000 in December 2008. The December median price was up $52,500 (20 percent) from the 2009 low of $252,500 in February. On a month-to-month basis, the December median selling price was up 7.0 percent from $285,000 in November 2009."

According to the association, 3,007 detached single-family homes in Massachusetts were sold in December, a 14.6 percent increase from the 2,623 homes sold the same time last year.

Focusing on the condo market, the association said: "The December condominium market was up 31.7 percent compared to the same time last year (from 943 units sold in 2008 to 1,242 units sold in 2009). On a month-to-month basis, condominium sales were down 22.1 percent compared to the 1,595 units sold this past November. Condominium median selling prices in December were also up 10.9 percent from $230,000 in 2008 to $255,000 in 2009. The December median price was up $51,000 (25 percent) from the 2009 low of $204,000 in January. On a month-to-month basis, the median selling price of a condominium was up 2.4 percent from a November median of $249,000."

"We can thank the first-time homebuyer tax credit for helping to create six straight months of positive sales to close out 2009, Massachusetts Association of Realtors president Kevin Sears said in a statement. "One month with a big jump in median prices certainly isn’t a trend, but the combination of increased activity from the tax credit and declining inventory has the ability to keep prices moving up. We need more homes on the market if we are to keep prices stable."

 Also released this morning was the monthly S&P/Case Shiller index, which many real estate analysts regard as the best measure of home price trends.

Looking at housing activity in the Boston metro area for the month of November, the Case-Shiller index found that local home prices roughly held steady to prices in October.

On a seasonally adjusted basis, Metro Boston home prices rose 0.4 percent from October to November, according to the Case-Shiller index.

To read a story about national housing activity that appeared in today's Globe, please click here.