Housing prices slip as inventory builds

MALDEN – With the inventory of available homes at a three-year high, the average sale price for a single-family home dropped in September for the first time since March, the Massachusetts Board of Realtors reported. The Realtors said that the average price for a single-family home in September was $308,541 in Massachusetts, down 6.6 percent from $330,344 in August. Even as prices dropped and mortgage interest rates reached record low levels, the number of single-family homes and condominiums available rose to 8,930 units in the third quarter, the Realtors reported, nearly a 35 percent increase from the first quarter of this year.