MA Home Sales, Prices fall in January

This article was release on 2/24/2009 by Providence Business News.
By Kevin Shalvey, PBN Staff Writer

BOSTON – January sales of single-family homes in Massachusetts fell 10.3 percent compared with a year ago, while sales in Bristol County fell 12.82 percent, according to data released this morning by real estate tracker The Warren Group. Statewide house sales fell to 1,908 last month from the 2,126 sold in January 2008. The median price of Bay State homes sold in January fell 20.23 percent to $259,250 from $325,000 a year ago.

In Bristol County, single-family home sales dropped to 136 last month from 156 in January 2008. The median price of homes sold during the month fell 21.18 percent to $218,680 from the year-ago $277,450. “This is a really slow start to this year’s housing market,” The Warren Group CEO Timothy M. Warren Jr. said in a statement this morning. “It’s not entirely unexpected that sales and prices are off,” he added, “because the employment picture and foreclosure activity really [haven’t] improved much. We had seen a little improvement in single-family home sales late last year – with sales transactions climbing three out of the last four months in 2008 – but that didn’t carry over to January.”

Meanwhile, condominium sales in the Bay State plunged last month to a 17-year low. The 806 condos sold statewide in January represented a decline of 330 units, or 29 percent, from the 1,136 sold in January 2008. The median price of condos sold during the month fell 22.2 percent to $209,900 from the year-ago $269,950.

In Bristol County, January condo sales fell 37.21 percent to 27 units from the year-ago 43 units. The median price of condos sold locally during the month dropped to $164,000, a 21.87 percent decline from the $209,900 median sale price of January 2008. “The drop in condo prices is huge,” Warren said. “It’s the steepest percentage drop in monthly median condo prices, year over year, since we started looking at the housing market over two decades ago.“This shows that condo prices are finally starting to give, after holding up much better and longer than single-family home prices.”

The Warren Group Inc. is a provider of New England real estate data and the publisher of Banker & Tradesman and other journals. Additional information is available at www.TheWarrenGroup.com.