The Alewife

Realtor Reality by Doug Azarian

September sales down

[Doug Azarian is the 2007 President of the Massachusetts Association of Realtors and owns Century21/Dream Homes in Falmouth.]

The Massachusetts Association of Realtors ® reported Oct. 22 that the number of single-family homes and condominiums sold in September were down over 13 percent compared to the same time last year while prices continue to remain steady. This decrease comes after July and August saw year-to-year sales increases. Despite the drop in sales in September, the third quarter was still the fourth most active third quarter since 1990, with sales of single-family homes up slightly and condominium sales down only 2.4 percent compared to the third quarter in 2006.

Unfortunately, September wasn’t able to continue the year-to-year sales gains experienced in both July and August. It is definitely possible that all the reports about foreclosures, lack of financing, and the like have taken their toll and the result is that buyers are waiting on the sidelines.

Doug Azarian

However, despite the disappointing news, interest rates are still low and for credit-worthy buyers now is a really good time to buy.

There were 3,108 detached single-family homes sold this September, a 13.7 percent decrease from the 3,600 homes sold the same time last year. On a month-to-month basis, there was a 33.9 percent decrease compared to the 4,700 homes sold this past August.

While a double-digit percentage decrease is typical from August to September, this was the biggest drop in over 10 years. The median selling price for single-family homes in September was $340,000, a decrease of only 0.3 percent compared to $341,000 in September 2006.

On a month-to-month basis, the September median selling price is down 4.8% percent from $357,000 in August.

MAR releases Sept., Q3 real estate numbers

Eric Berman from the Doug Azarian's office at the Massachusetts Association of Realtors sent over this heads up on recent real estate sales in the state:

Good Morning,

Today, the Massachusetts Association of REALTORS® released its September and Q3 2007 housing numbers for single-family homes, condominiums, and multi-family homes.  Based on our analysis, sales of detached single-family homes were down 13.7% percent compared to the same month last year, while sales of condominiums were down 13.0% percent.

The third quarter numbers had single-family home sales virtually flat with a 0.4% increase, while sales of condominiums were down 2.4%.  The multi-family market experienced a 24.3 percent drop (the multi-family market only accounts for approximately 6.8% of the total residential real estate market).

Thank you for your time and let me know if you have any questions or problems accessing the data,

Eric B.

Eric D. Berman
Communications Director
Massachusetts Association of REALTORS®
256 Second Avenue , Waltham , MA 02451-1139
Office: (781) 839-5507
Cell: (781) 330-7188

www.marealtor.com/content/press_room.htm

Realtor Reality by Doug Azarian

August sales up again

2007 President of the Massachusetts Association of Realtors, Doug Azarian, owns Century 21/Dream Homes in Falmouth

The Massachusetts Association of Realtors reported Sept. 24 that the number of single-family homes sold in August is up 6.6 percent compared to the same time last year, with median sales prices up slightly. 

Doug Azarian

Sales of condominiums were up 3.4 percent, with median sales prices up 4.8 percent. 

It is definitely a positive sign to see two consecutive months of year-over-year sales gains to end the summer.

Combined with the recent interest rate drop by the Fed and continued legislative action on Capitol Hill, the potential for continued sales growth through the fall is good.

There were 4,700 detached single-family homes sold this August, a 6.6 percent increase over the 4,411 homes sold the same time last year. 

On a month-to-month basis, there was a 7.7 percent increase compared to the 4,363 homes sold this past July. 

Realtor Reality by Doug Azarian

[Doug Azarian is the 2007 President of the Massachusetts Association of Realtors and owns Century21/Dream Homes in Falmouth.]

With only 7.5 months of supply, the residential market is now in “balance.”

This is typically a good time for both buyers and sellers to come together.

The Massachusetts Association of Realtors reported July 23 that the number of single-family homes and condominiums sold in the second quarter are down compared to the same time last year. Despite the decrease, this was still the fourth most active second quarter in sales volume since 1990. Year-to-date sales (Q1 and Q2 combined) are down only 1.4 percent compared to the same two quarters last year.

While the second quarter wasn’t able to sustain the momentum of the first quarter compared to the year before, it was still very active.

Doug Azarian

Looking at year-to-date numbers, we are not far off last year in terms of sales and median prices, while inventory and months of supply continue to go down.”

In the second quarter of 2007, sales of detached single-family homes decreased 5.4 percent compared to the same time last year with a total of 12,171 homes sold (12,862 homes were sold in 2006). Median selling prices also saw a decline of 1.4 percent from $360,000 in 2006 to $355,000 in 2007.

The condominium market also experienced a drop in the number of units sold in the second quarter compared to the second quarter of last year with a slight 1.1 percent decrease (6,350 units sold in 2006 to 6,278 units sold in 2007).

Despite the small drop in sales volume, median selling prices went up 2.7 percent to $287,500 from $280,000 in 2006. The combined residential market (sales of single-family homes and condominiums) experienced its fourth most active second quarter since 1990.

Regionally, Greater Boston had the biggest jump in sales volume for single-family homes with a 2.6 percent gain for the second quarter with 3,048 homes sold in 2007 compared to 2,971 homes sold in 2006.

Realtor Reality by Doug Azarian

[Doug Azarian is the 2007 President of the Massachusetts Association of Realtors and owns Century21/Dream Homes in Falmouth.]

May home prices strong despite sales volume drop

The Massachusetts Association of Realtore June 22 that sales of single-family homes was down 7.5 percent compared to the same time last year. However, despite the drop in sales volume, prices continue to remain strong and inventory continues to go down from year ago levels. The number of condominium sales remains virtually unchanged from the same time last year with prices going up, inventory decreasing, and supply at its lowest levels since August 2005.

While tighter lending standards and reduced mortgage options for some prospective buyers this year may have had an impact on the market, stable prices and declining supply indicate there is still a steady demand. In fact, May is the fifth straight month that residential supply levels have gone down. We can speculate that demand will continue to go up during the second half of the year.

Doug Azarian

There were 3,884 detached single-family homes sold this May, a 7.5 percent decrease from the 4,200 homes sold the same time last year. On a month-to-month basis there was an increase of 16.7 percent compared 3,328 homes sold in April.

The median selling price of a single-family home this May was $355,000, a slight 0.7 percent increase compared to $352,700 in May 2006. Compared to April, median selling prices were up 2.9 percent.

The condominium market is strong, with a 0.2 percent increase in the number of units sold compared to the same time last year, 2,169 units sold in 2006 to 2,173 units sold in 2007. On a month-to-month basis, sales volume was up 24 percent compared to 1,753 units sold in April.

Median selling prices of condominiums went up 1.4 percent in May compared to the same time last year, 286,000 in 2006 to $290,000 in 2007). Compared to April, the median selling price went up 5.6 percent from $274,650.

Market regains balance, inventory drops

by Doug Azarian

For the third month in a row, the Massachusetts housing market remained relatively stable in April as the number of  homes sold and sale prices remained largely unchanged compared to the same time last year.

April is the fourth consecutive month in which inventory has gone down compared to the previous year.

The housing market continued to trend in a positive direction for the month of April.

"While the number of detached single-family homes sold was down, the 1.7 percent decrease year-to-year was the lowest we’ve seen in the month of April for the past three years.”

There were 3,328 detached single-family homes sold this April, a 1.7 percent decrease from the 3,386 homes sold the same time last year.

This compares favorably with April 2006 that experienced a year-to-year decrease of 7 percent and April 2005 that experienced a year-to-year decrease of 10 percent.

On a month-to-month basis there was a decrease of 3.5 percent compared to the number of homes sold in March 2007.

This compares favorably to 2006 when there was 5.0 percent drop in home sales from March to April.

The median selling price of a single-family home this April was $345,000, a 2.3 percent decrease compared to $353,000 in April 2006.  Compared to March of 2007, median selling prices edged up 0.3 percent.

While single-family homes sales were down, condominiums actually experienced a slight 0.7 percent increase in the number of units sold compared to the same time last year (1,741 units sold in 2006 to 1,753 units sold in 2007).

On a month-to-month basis, sales volume was down 0.7 percent compared to 1,765 units sold in March 2007.

This drop is smaller than the 3.0 percent decline in unit sales from March to April 2006.

Median selling prices of condominiums went up 2.6 percent in April 2007 compared to the same time last year ($267,600 in 2006 to $274,650 in 2007).  Compared to March 2007, the median selling price went down 1.6 percent from $279,000.

The inventory of residential properties (detached single-family homes and condos) on the market decreased 22 percent as of April 30, 2007 compared to the same time last year (from 65,232 listings in 2006 to 50,777 listings in 2007).

At the current sales pace, this represents approximately 10 months of supply, a decrease from 12.7 months of supply in April 2006.

On a month-to-month basis, the average months of supply edged up from 9.0 months in March 2007.

It is considered a balanced market when there is between 7.5 and 8.5 months of available housing supply.

With inventory levels decreasing and interest rates still low, demand should continue to keep prices stable through the end of the spring home buying season.

Detached single-family homes stayed on the market an average of 150 days in April 2007 compared to an average of 127 days in April 2006, while condos stayed on the market an average of 143 days compared to 117 days in April 2006.

Sales and price data from the MAR report reflects transactions through Realtor-affiliated multiple listing services in the Commonwealth, and account for roughtly 80 percent of the state’s real estate sales.

Housing market moving in right direction

by Doug Azarian

The first quarter of 2007 has shown positive signs for the housing market in Massachusetts with increased sales for both detached single-family homes and condominiums compared to the same time last year according to the Massachusetts Association of Realtors.

The housing market in Massachusetts is gaining momentum. With sales gains in each of the first three months, prices remaining stable, and supplies decreasing, we can expect the spring home buying season to be active.

In the first quarter of 2007, sales of detached single-family homes rose 2.8 percent compared to the same time last year with a total of 8,603 homes sold versus 8,367 homes were sold in 2006.

While sales volume was up, median selling prices did decline 1.1 percent from $343,500 in 2006 to $339,800 in 2007.

The condominium market also saw sales go up in the first quarter compared to the first quarter of last year with a 2.1 percent rise, 4,208 units sold in 2006 to 4,298 units sold in 2007.

Median selling prices remained virtually unchanged with less than a one percent increase over 2006 to $274,000.

Regionally, Greater Boston had the biggest jump in sales volume for both single-family homes and condominiums with 13.8 percent and 15.4 percent gains respectively for the first quarter.

This translated into 1,789 homes and 1,798 condominiums sold in 2006, compared to 2,036 homes and 2,074 condominiums sold in 2007.

Realtor Reality by Doug Azarian

December sales show buyers still in-charge

With the lowest mortgage rates in more than a year, as well as stabilizing prices and strong inventory levels, the Massachusetts housing market continued to favor buyers in December, according to the Massachusetts Association of Realtors.

Doug Azarian

Coming off record prices, brisk sales and seller’s markets of the past decade, it’s good to see the market coming back to some balance.

The balance definitely tips toward the buyer, although the monthly inventory of available homes is beginning to diminish a bit. Sellers who heed their Realtor’s advice about right-pricing are doing well. December’s monthly median selling price of detached single-family homes declined 5.4 percent, from $354,000 in December 2005 to $335,000.

They declined 1.5 percent from the November median selling price of $340,000.

Single-family sales also continued a downward trend in December 2006, decreasing 16.6 percent from the same period a year ago, from 3,574 homes in December 2005 to 2,980 homes sold this past month.

Azarian joins The Alewife

The 2007 President of the Massachusetts  Association of Realtors, Doug Azarian, writes his first column for the paper's Real Estate section in the February edition--on the streets this week.

Azarian is the owner of Century 21/Dream Homes in Falmouth.