Mass. November home sales fall 18.4%

Already scared to begin with, prospective home buyers are increasingly nervous about the country's economic condition and putting the brakes on purchases.

The number of home sales recorded in Massachusetts plunged 18.4 percent in November, compared to the same period a year ago. Home prices for the month fell 16.7 percent, to a median of $275,000, the steepest such decline in more than 20 years, according to the latest market report from Warren Group.

"Fear and panic gripped consumers as the stock market tanked and financial firms and other companies reported heavy losses, which caused many would-be home buyers to pull back," said Warren Group chief executive Timothy Warren. "A similar sales picture is likely to emerge in the next two months, which means the price declines we've been seeing won't level off for quite some time."

A separate report of November data released yesterday by the Massachusetts Association of Realtors showed similar steep declines. Sales prices of single-family homes fell nearly 22 percent, to a median price of $283,000, while condo prices declined 27 percent, to a median of $250,000.

Association president Susan Renfrew said she saw customers "pull back" in the fall, overwhelmed by the financial crisis and it's consequences.

The real estate group records sales handled by agents, while Warren Group records all sales transactions.

Nationally, sales of existing homes fell 8.6 percent in November, while median prices plunged a record 13.2 percent, the largest drop since the National Association of Realtors began its monthly time series, the group said yesterday.

The November data is a snapshot of the market at one time. The picture isn't so bad, though not that improved, either, over a longer period of time. Through the 11 months of the year so far, sales of single-family homes were down almost 13 percent, according to Warren, while median prices fell about 11 percent, to $309,900. Condominium sales for the year fell 23 percent, but the median price dipped only 2 percent from $280,525 to $275,000.

Home sales and prices also differ by location. Western Massachusetts and the islands showed the sharpest declines in sales this year. In Nantucket County, single-family prices remained stable in November but dropped nearly 39 percent between January and November. Suffolk County single-family home sales dropped about 35 percent in November and about 10 percent for the first 11 months of the year.

Jenifer McKim can be reached at jmckim@globe.com.