Home sales in Mass. dipped in September

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By Rick Saia

Sales of single-family homes in Massachusetts fell in September while the median selling price showed little year-over-year movement, according to two industry reports released Tuesday.

Both The Warren Group of Boston and the Massachusetts Association of Realtors (MAR) reported drops in the number of sales compared with September 2013. The Warren Group said sales of single-family homes fell 1 percent. For the first nine months of the year, sales are down 3.1 percent, the organization added.

But the MAR cited a steeper year-over-year drop of 3.3 percent.
Condominium sales suffered a worse performance. The MAR said sales fell 5.1 percent year over year, while the Warren Group said they dropped 9.5 percent.

Meanwhile, the median price of a single-family home in September was flat, at $325,000. But the Warren Group said the median fell slightly, from $325,000 to $320,000. However, the median is up 3.1 percent for the year through September.

"The decrease in the selling price of single-family homes and the number of sales in September is insignificant," Cassidy Murphy, editorial director at The Warren Group, said in a statement. "When we look at the increase in the selling price of single-family homes year-to-date, it is clear that the housing market is still dealing with low inventory and pent-up demand."

But in Central Massachusetts, the story was slightly different, according to Warren Group data. The median sale price for a single-family home rose 1.1 percent last month, to $225,000. Middlesex County saw a higher rise, 3.5 percent, to $424,500. But for condominiums in Worcester County, the median fell nearly 2.4 percent, to $184,500. Middlesex saw a slight jump of 0.3 percent, to $328,450.

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