October single-family home sales jump 21% in Massachusetts, the Warren Group says

By Chris Reidy, Globe Staff

Sales of Massachusetts single-family homes in October rose 21 percent from the same month a year ago, and condo sales increased for the ninth straight month, the Warren Group reported Tuesday.

A total of 4,044 single-family homes were sold in Massachusetts in October, compared with 3,340 sales in October 2011, said the Warren Group, a Boston firm that tracks real estate activity.

“Home sales for the first 10 months of the year have already surpassed sales in all of 2011,” Warren Group chief executive Timothy M. Warren Jr. said in a statement. “Record low mortgage rates, an improved economy, and growing consumer confidence are boosting the housing market in Massachusetts and around the country.”

The median price of single-family homes remained unchanged at $270,000 in October, the lowest monthly median price since March, when prices were $263,000, the Warren Group added.

Bay State condo sales for October were up 48.8 percent on a year-to-year comparison basis, and the median condo price was $255,000, a 0.79 percent increase from a year ago, the Warren Group said.

The Massachusetts Association of Realtors, meanwhile, issued a separate monthly report on the state’s housing market. The association uses a different methodology to track real estate activity.

According to the association, Massachusetts single-family median home prices in October had their biggest monthly increase since June 2010.

The median selling price for single-family homes in October was $287,000, up 4.4 percent from $275,000 in October 2011, the association said.

That increase “could be a strong sign of the start of an upward trend,” association president Trisha McCarthy said in a statement.