Warren Group: Mass. home sales continue to slide in May

EVEN AS THE MEDIAN PRICE FOR SINGLE-FAMILY HOMES and condominiums increased year over year in Massachusetts in May, sales volume fell in the Bay State for the fourth consecutive month.  / COURTESY THE WARREN GROUP
EVEN AS THE MEDIAN PRICE FOR SINGLE-FAMILY HOMES and condominiums increased year over year in Massachusetts in May, sales volume fell in the Bay State for the fourth consecutive month. / COURTESY THE WARREN GROUP

BOSTON – Sales of single-family homes in Massachusetts dropped 7 percent in May year over year, real estate data tracking firm The Warren Group reported Tuesday.

There were 4,482 sales recorded in May compared with 4,820 during the same month last year, the sixth monthly year-over-year sales decline in the last seven months and the fourth consecutive month of declines. Year-to-date sales through May also decreased, falling 3.8 percent with a total of 15,467 homes sold compared with 16,073 homes the previous year.

In Bristol County, year-to-date single-family home sales declined 1 percent to 1,148 sales compared with 1,159 sales during the same period in 2013. For May alone, there were 299 single-family home sales in Bristol County, a decrease of 8.8 percent from the 328 sales reported for the year before.

“Single-family sales volume is still slipping. Most of these May closings went under agreement in March at the start of the spring selling season, and we’ll see sales reach their peak in July,” said Timothy M. Warren Jr., CEO of The Warren Group. “Low inventory and lingering winter weather in March may have depressed the number of sales, but the rising median price tells me that the market is recovering nicely.”

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The median price for a single-family home sold in the Bay State last month rose 4.7 percent to $340,000 from $324,600 in May 2013. The median price in the first four months of 2014 was $319,000, an increase of 6.3 percent year over year.

Bristol County’s median price for May was $272,500, climbing 11.9 percent over the May 2013 price of $243,500. Year-to-date, the median home price in Bristol County rose nine-tenths of a percent to $242,250 from $240,000.

Condominium sales statewide in May totaled 2,146 compared with 2,015 a year earlier, an increase of 6.5 percent. Year-to-date condo sales also posted an increase, of 9.3 percent, rising to 7,166 from 6,557 during the same period in 2013.

Bristol County condo sales increased 11.4 percent in May to 78 from 70 in May 2013. Year-to-date condo sales through the end of the month totaled 257, compared with 213 during the same four-month period last year, an increase of 20.7 percent.

The median condo price in Massachusetts rose 8.5 percent from a year earlier in May to $320,000, while the year-to-date median price rose 13 percent to $305,000. The median condo price in Bristol County rose 26.8 percent in May to $174,500, with a year-to-date increase of 16.5 percent to $169,900.

The Warren Group is the Boston-based publisher of Banker & Tradesman, The Commercial Record and a series of association publications.

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