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BOSTON – Single-family home sales in Massachusetts dropped 13.2 percent last month, although in Bristol County the year-over-year sales decline was a smaller 5.8 percent, according to data released today by The Warren Group, a Boston-based real estate tracker.
Across the Bay State, 3,256 homes were sold in May, compared with 3,749 a year earlier. In Bristol County, 245 homes were sold, compared with 260 a year earlier.
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“This report shows that home sales are still slow in Massachusetts,” CEO Timothy M. Warren Jr. said in a statement this morning.
“In the late 1990s and into the early part of this century, the state was averaging over 5,000 single-family home sales during the month of May,” he said. “Last month, we saw fewer than 3,300 home sales, making it the slowest sales pace for the month of May in almost two decades.”
The median statewide sale price slid to $280,000 last month, down 13 percent from the $322,000 median price in May 2008. In Bristol County, the median price dropped 14 percent year-over-year, falling to $236,000 last month from $274,400 a year earlier.
Warren called it a “positive sign” that the drop in median price was smaller than it had been in recent months, but added that “prices are still declining.”
“In order for that downward trend to reverse, sales must improve significantly,” he said. “That won’t happen unless the employment outlook improves dramatically and the tight mortgage lending standards are loosened.”
Condominium sales in the Bay State were down 22 percent last month, dropping to 1,567 from 2,010 a year earlier. The median condo price fell to $257,000, down 10.5 percent from the median price of $287,000 a year ago.
Bristol County condo sales were down 15.4 percent, falling from 52 to 44. The median price of those sales was $193,250, up 0.3 percent increase from the median price of $192,750 last May.
The Warren Group this morning also released a podcast about May sales in the Bay State.
The Warren Group Inc. is a provider of New England real estate data and the publisher of Banker & Tradesman and other journals. Additional information is available at TheWarrenGroup.com.
