.png?width=400&height=85&name=2023%20BBO%20Logo%20800x170%20(400%20x%2085%20px).png "Buyers Brokers Only, LLC - Exclusive Buyer Agents")
Massachusetts home sales continued to perform strong in 2012, with October single-family home sales increasing 21 percent compared to October 2011, The Warren Group, publisher of Banker & Tradesman, reported November 27, 2012.
A total of 4,044 single-family homes were sold in Massachusetts in October, compared with 3,340 sales in October 2011. With the October numbers in, home sales in the first 10 months of 2012 already have exceeded the number of home sales in the state for all of 2011.
The median price of single-family homes remained unchanged at $270,000 in October, the lowest monthly median price since March, when prices were $263,000, The Warren Group reported.
Record low mortgage interest rates, a slightly improved economy and growing consumer confidence are boosting the housing market in Massachusetts. First-time home buyers are in a particularly good position to buy a home. There also are many first-time home buyer loan programs to help save home buyers money.
Massachusetts condo sales for October soared 48.8 percent compared to the same time last year, and the median condominium price stood at $255,000, a 0.79 percent increase from a year ago.
The Massachusetts Association of REALTORS (MAR) also issued a real estate market report. The MAR uses a different methodology to track real estate activity in Massachusetts.
Massachusetts single-family median home prices in October had their biggest monthly increase since June 2010, according to the MAR report. The median selling price for single-family homes in October was $287,000, up 4.4 percent from $275,000 in October 2011.
No matter which report you look at, the bottom line is the same. The real estate market in Massachusetts has and continues to rebound in 2012. I suspect the difference in median home price between The Warren Group and the MAR probably has to do with Massachusetts foreclosures. The MAR tracks data using the several state multiple listing services. Some bank foreclosres may have sold without ever being on the MLS. The Warren Group uses data from the state's registries of deeds.
