Massachusetts REALTORS Report Single-Family Home Sales Gains in December

Both sales volume and median prices down in 2008

WALTHAM, MA – January 27, 2009 – (RealEstateRama) — The Massachusetts Association of REALTORS® (MAR) reported today that single-family homes sales were up 3.2 percent in December compared to the same time last year.  While median prices continue to go down, this is the third month in the last four to experience sales increases.  Despite these sales gains, 2008 closed with single-family home sales down 13 percent and median prices down 10 percent.  The condominium market experienced a 21 percent sales decrease while median prices were down only 3.7 percent in 2008.

“Prices have adjusted to the point that buyers are seeing real value and taking the opportunity to get back into the market and that is a necessary first step to eventually turning things around,” said MAR President Gary Rogers, broker at RE/MAX First Realty in Waltham.  “Last year was hard and we are hopeful that any new stimulus package introduced by President Obama and Congress gets credit flowing to worthy borrowers so they can take advantage of the extremely low interest rates and more affordable prices.”

Year End Sales and Prices:

The number of detached single-family homes sold in 2008 declined 13.1 percent from 2007 (from 41,583 to 36,138 homes).  The number of condominiums sold in 2007 went down 21.1 percent (from 19,798 to 15,628 units).
The median price for a single-family home declined 10 percent from 2007 (from $345,500 to $311,000).  The average median price for a single-family home in 2008 falls between 2003 and 2004 levels.

The condominium market saw median prices decrease only 3.7 percent from 2007 (from $282,000 to $271,500).  Despite the significant decrease in sales volume, the average median price of a condominium has increased $72,000 or 36 percent since 2002 when the Association first began tracking average median prices.

Single-family homes stayed on the market 144 days on average in 2008, as compared to 139 days on average in 2007.  The average monthly inventory (32,065 homes) was 5.8 percent lower in 2008 than it was in 2007 (34,039 homes).  This translates to 10.6 months of supply on average for 2008 compared to 9.8 months of supply on average in 2007.

Condominiums stayed on the market 149 days on average in 2008, compared to 135 days on average in 2007.  The average monthly inventory (14,031 units) was 12 percent lower than 2007 average level of 15,876 units statewide.  This translates to 10.8 months of supply on average for 2008, compared to 9.6 months of supply on average in 2007.

Multi-family home sales were up 24.6 percent in 2008 compared to 2007 (from 5,073 homes sold in 2007 to 6,322 homes in 2008).  Median sales prices for multi-family homes were down 10.6 percent from $212,500 in 2007 to $189,900 in 2008.

December Sales and Prices:

There were 2,622 single-family homes sold in December 2008, a 3.2 percent increase compared to 2,540 homes sold the year before.  This is only the third monthly increase in 2008 and only the fourth time there has been an annual December increase since 1997.  On a month-to-month basis, there was a 12.1 percent increase compared to the 2,339 homes sold this past November.  This is only the third November-to-December increase since 2000.

In December, the median selling price for single-family homes was $275,000 a decrease of 14.9 percent compared to $323,000 in December 2007, which is back to 2002 levels.  On a month-to-month basis, the December median selling price went down 2.8 percent from November at $283,000.

The condominium market experienced a 14.8 percent decrease in the number of units sold this December compared to last year (from 1,107 units sold in 2007 to 943 units sold in 2008).  On a month-to-month basis, condominium sales were up 4.1 percent compared to 906 units sold in November.  Similar to single-family home sales, this is only the third November-to-December sales increase since 2000.

The median selling price of a condo in December 2008 was $230,000, which is down 14.8 percent from the December 2007 median price of $270,000, which is back to 2003 levels.  Compared to this past November, the median selling price of a condominium was down 8.0 percent (from $250,000).

“With sales up in December, we feel prices and the extremely low interest rates are bringing people back into the market,” said Rogers.  “This was something that was starting to happen in September and October, but the financial turmoil put a halt to that in November.  December’s results indicate that the market is at least heading in a positive direction and we’ll take that for now.”

The inventory of single-family homes fell 16 percent from December 2007 levels (from 30,014 listings in 2007 to 25,178 listings in 2008) which translates into 9.6 months of supply in December 2008.  This is down from 11.8 months of supply in December 2007 and down from 12.2 months of supply in November 2008.  This is the ninth straight month that year-over-year inventory levels have gone down.

Inventory continues to drop in the condominium market as well. December inventory went down 24 percent (from 13,939 listings in 2007 to 10,637 listings in 2008), which translates into 11.3 months of supply, down from 12.6 months of supply in December 2007 and down from 13.2 months this past November.

Detached single-family homes stayed on the market an average of 140 days in December 2008 compared to an average of 147 days in December 2007, while condos stayed on the market an average of 142 days, down from an average of 148 days in December 2007.

For 2008 fourth quarter sales data comparisons by state and regions across the state, go to www.marealtor.com.

About the Massachusetts Association of REALTORS®:
Organized in 1924, the Massachusetts Association of REALTORS® is a professional trade organization with more than 21,000 members.  The term REALTOR® is registered as the exclusive designation of members of the National Association of REALTORS® who subscribe to a strict code of ethics and enjoy continuing education programs.