Home sales data show deep drop in prices

In Essex County, sales last year fell 9.9 percent, with the median price of a single-family home dropping 10.6 percent to $335,000. Middlesex County - which includes Everett, Malden, Melrose, and Wakefield - posted a 12.7 percent sales decline, and an 8.4 percent drop in prices to $390,000.

The Bay State last year posted an 11.5 percent drop in sales, and an 11.6 percent drop in median prices, to $305,000, making last year one the harshest in recent memory.

"Single-family home sales last year were just slightly above the sluggish sales volume we saw during the last housing downturn in the early 1990s," Timothy Warren Jr., chief executive of The Warren Group, said in a statement.

The Warren Group, a publisher of real estate data, tracks sales recorded at Registry of Deeds offices statewide. A median price is the midpoint of sales, meaning that half of the homes sold for more, and half for less.

Cities with high foreclosure rates posted the largest price drops, even as sales improved in some places. In Lynn, home sales last year increased 9.8 percent, but the median price dropped 20.4 percent to $206,000. Haverhill, which had a 1.5 percent sales gain, posted a 13.6 percent price drop, to $259,000.

Everett's sales increased 17.4 percent last year, but prices also dropped 17 percent, to $253,000. Revere had a 24.6 percent sales increase, but prices tumbled 19.1 percent, to $242,500, The Warren Group reported.

"Like many communities, Danvers is facing a shortage of affordable housing and especially housing for adults with disabilities," US Representative John F. Tierney stated in a news release last week.

Robert S. Stearns, chief executive at Bridgewell, could not be reached for comment.

The federal grant requires other funding sources to be put toward the project, which is estimated to cost $800,000, a Bridgewell spokeswoman said. The home, which will be Bridgewell's second group home in Danvers, will be occupied by five individuals referred by the state Department of Mental Retardation.

Photo shop serves police departments Hunt's Photo and Video of Melrose has put a laser focus on the market for high-tech crime-fighting cameras.

Long a supplier of cameras and video equipment to public safety departments, Hunt's created a law enforcement sales division in September.

"We wanted to really focus on their needs," said Stan Goldberg, sales manager of the new division. "There is a lot of new technology out there that police and fire departments need to have, and more importantly, [learn] how to use it correctly." Hunt's has 15 digital camera and video products in its law enforcement arsenal. CaseCracker, a video system long used by local police departments, has been added. Services, such as advising police departments how to set up interview rooms to meet federal law enforcement rules, also are offered.

"Everything has to be done to standards," said Goldberg, a 40-year veteran of working in public safety technologies.

Hunt's recently was named the New England dealer for SmartShot, a new digital camera system by Hunter Systems Management of Marshfield. The system, which costs about $2,000, allows police departments to improve the quality of mug shots. Saugus police was the first department to snap up a SmartShot system.

Datebook Dan Grabauskas of Ipswich, general manager of the MBTA, will speak to the North Shore Chamber of Commerce during its monthly breakfast meeting Wednesday at 7:30 a.m. at The Hawthorne Hotel in Salem. To register, call 978-774-8565 or visit www.northshorechamber.org.

Kathy McCabe can be reached at kmccabe@globe.com.