Mass. home prices up again, as inventory shrinks

Courtesy American Advisors Group via Flickr

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By Grant Welker

Home prices rose last month but the number of sales fell sharply, according to new data released Tuesday by the Massachusetts Association of Realtors.

February was the 12th straight month of year-over-year increases in median price. Condominium sales also fell compared to the previous year, as prices rose.

The average single-family home sale in February was $330,000, up almost 7 percent from a year ago. The number of sales fell by 11 percent.

Condo sale prices rose nearly 8 percent to $313,000, while the number of sales fell by nearly 9 percent.

“Falling inventory kept buyer demand from pushing closed sales higher again in February,” Paul Yorkis, the president of the Massachusetts Association of Realtors, said in a statement accompanying the monthly report.

“Massachusetts buyers need more homes for sale, and hopefully seller activity this spring will give the market the inventory it needs to see sales go back up," he said.

In a similar report Tuesday, The Warren Group said February marked only the second February since 2008, other than 2015, when sale prices surpassed $300,000 for single-family homes.

The Warren Group, which had slightly different figures than the Massachusetts Association of Realtors, said February's median sales price for condos of $297,700 was a record for the month.