Massachusetts Home Sales Slow in February

The Massachusetts housing market slowed last month after rising in January for the first time in two years, The Warren Group reported today.

Sales of single-family homes dipped to 2,983, 1.4 percent fewer than in February 2006, as Massachusetts mortgage demand continued to lag and the area’s median price fell to $300,000, 4.6 percent below last year.

In January, 3,305 single-family homes were sold across the Bay State, 5.1 percent more than in January 2006, though their median price was 3.4 percent less than a year earlier.

Meanwhile, sales of condos dipped to 1,717, or 3.2 percent fewer than a year earlier, as the median price fell to $275,000, 4.8 percent below the price in February 2006.

The report shows “a leveling-out in the Massachusetts housing market,” said Timothy Warren Jr., CEO of The Warren Group.

“Sales decreased by double-digit percentages during much of 2006, so a decrease of only 1.4 percent could be an indication of some stabilization in the market. But recent difficulties in the subprime home loan market could spell trouble down the road.”

Especially given the current bad credit mortgage woes, the market, he concluded, “is probably not out of the woods yet.”

Bristol County fared less well, with 262 single-family properties sold last month, 10.9 percent fewer than in February 2006, at a median home price of $285,500, or 3.5 percent below the year-ago level.

Eighty-one condos, which offer more affordable mortgage payments, were sold in the county, 17.4 percent fewer than in February 2006; their median price of $208,500 was 5.7 percent below the year-ago level.

SOURCE: Providence Business Journal