Regional Spotlight: Massachusetts Home Sales Fall Dramatically for Second Month in a Row

RISMEDIA, Nov. 29, 2007-Single-family home sales in October dropped by a double-digit percentage for the second month in a row, after a couple months of nearly flat sales. The median home price also continued to fall, when compared to the same time period in 2006, according to a report released by The Warren Group, publisher of Banker & Tradesman.

Single-family home sales dropped 17.1% from 4,399 in October 2006 to 3,646 in October of this year. That followed an 18.7% decline in September. But in July and August, sales stayed steady with an increase of 1.5% and a decrease of 1.5%, respectively.

Year-to-date single-family home sales are down 7% at the end of October from 46,797 during the first 10 months of 2006 to 43,535 this year.

The median price for single-family homes in October fell by the largest percentage so far this year, according to TWG’s traditional method of calculating prices. The median price dropped 6.5% from $310,000 in October 2006 to $290,000 this year. The last time prices fell by more than 6.5% was in December 2006, when they declined 8.1%.

The year-to-date median price for single-family homes fell 4.4% from $329,000 last year to $314,482 this year.

Condominium sales also fell substantially in October. Sales were down 16% from 2,230 in October 2006 to 1,874 this October. Year-to-date sales fell 7% from 25,640 to 23,856.

The median price of condos fell 1.5% in October from $261,000 to $257,100. The year-to-date price is down 2.2% from $276,000 to $270,000.

For more information, visit www.thewarrengroup.com.