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June 23, 2008

Massachusetts house sales pick up in May

The pace of house sales in Massachusetts picked up in May, as prices continued to fall, according to a report out today from the Massachusetts Association of Realtors.

The number of single-family houses sold rose to 3,491, up 24.5 percent from the 2,803 sold in April, the biggest April-to-May increase in 10 years, the report said. (Some of the increase is probably seasonal, since house sales tend vary from month to month.)

Compared with May of last year, single-family house sales were down 10 percent, the report said.

The median price of a single-familyhouse last month was $322,500, a decrease of 9.2 percent from May of last year, when the median price was $355,000, the report said.

Condo sales last month were up 27.5 percent from April, but down 24.5 percent compared with May of last year, according to the Massachusetts Association of Realtors report.

The median condo price in May was $282,500, down 2.6 percent from May of last year.

At the current pace of sales it would take about 9.8 months to sell all the single-family houses and condos on the market in Massachusetts, up from 8.9 months in May of last year but down from 12.1 months in April of this year.

Posted by Lynn Arditi  at 11:40 AM | Permalink

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