FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Editorial Contact:

Aglaia Pikounis

The Warren Group

(617) 896-5370

apikounis@thewarrengroup.com

Mass. Median Home Price Drops 18 Percent in February;

11.3 Percent of Single-Family Transactions Are Bank-Owned Sales

Single-Family Home Sales Tumble 15 Percent from a Year Earlier

BOSTON, March 24, 2009 – Bank-owned property sales made up more than 10 percent of Massachusetts’ single-family home sales transactions in February, approximately five times as many as the same month two years ago, according to The Warren Group, publisher of Banker & Tradesman.

Single-family home sales fell 14.6 percent to 1,825 in February from 2,138 in February 2008. Year-to-date single-family home sales are down 12.5 percent, with 3,732 transactions recorded in the first two months of 2009 compared to 4,264 a year ago.

Of February home sales, 206 were bank-owned properties, representing 11.3 percent of all single-family home sales during the month. In February 2007, there were only 48 sales of bank-owned single-family homes, representing 1.8 percent of sales.

“Distressed property sales have become a bigger share of the market and will continue to be a factor going forward as lending institutions try to reduce their portfolio of real estate-owned property,” said Timothy M. Warren Jr., CEO of The Warren Group. 

Warren added, “In some communities, the real estate-owned properties on the market are in competition with non-distressed properties and are having an impact on property values. We found that statewide, the median price for single-family homes last month would have been $21,000 higher – or about 8 ½ percent higher – without the bank-owned home sales transactions.”

The median selling price for a single-family home dropped 18.3 percent to $245,000 from $300,000 in February 2008. February was the sixth consecutive month that the median price has been under $300,000 and also the sixth straight month that prices have declined by double-digit percentages. The year-to-date median price is $251,000, a 20.3 percent decrease from $315,000 during the same months in 2008.

Condo sales plunged to a 13-year low for the month of February. There were 866 condos sold statewide in February, down 30 percent from 1,236 a year earlier. During the first two months of 2009, condo sales plummeted 29.5 percent to 1,672 from 2,372 a year earlier.

The median condo price declined 14 percent to $220,000 from $255,750 in February 2008. It was the lowest median condo price for February since 2003. The year-to-date median condo price is $216,875, or 16.6 percent lower than the $260,000 median price recorded for the first two months of 2008.

Statistics for individual cities and towns available to members of the media by request.

About The Warren Group

The Warren Group, based in Boston, is the publisher of Banker & Tradesman, The Commercial Record and a series of association publications. As the premier provider of real estate data in New England, The Warren Group offers a range of real estate products and services for professionals and consumers searching for real estate and financial information. For more information about The Warren Group, please visit www.thewarrengroup.com or call 617-428-5100.