Mass. home sales end 2014 on a high note
December saw a year-over-year increase in pending home sales as the state closed out 2014 with sales and price gains over 2013, according to the Massachusetts Association of Realtors.
The 3,096 pending single-family home sales – those under agreement to be sold - in December represent a 28.7 percent year-over-year gain from December 2013, while the median price also increased 4.1 percent, to $333,000. Meanwhile, pending condominium sales and median prices rose 19.9 percent and 3.9 percent respectively, with 1,091 condos sold; the median price was $318,500.
That marked the 22nd straight month of year-over-year increases for both types of homes, according to the Realtors group (MAR). The figures also close out a solid year for both home and condominium sales, MAR said.
“All year buyers have been taking advantage of interest rates that seem to continually go down and down to push pending sales up and up,” MAR President Corinne Fitzgerald said in a statement. “Just like 2014, the need for consistent inventory gains across the state (is) needed to help push sales up in the New Year.”
The lack of inventory may be tempering Realtors’ confidence in the market, according to MAR. The group’s confidence index for December fell to 50, the mid-point on the group’s 100-point scale. That represented a 5 percent drop since December 2013, marking the 14th straight month of year-over-year decline in confidence.
For the entire year, Realtor confidence was down 13 percent from 2013, ending at 60.12 while confidence in price fell 2 percent to 73.42.
WBJ Web Partners
Most Recent
Most Recent
0 Comments