Bay State home, condo sales up sharply in July

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Sales of single-family homes and condominiums in Massachusetts soared in July compared with a year earlier, the Massachusetts Association of Realtors (MAR) said Tuesday.

Sales of single-family homes rose 19.5 percent, the largest year-over-year increase since September 2013. MAR said 6,614 single-family homes were sold last month compared with 5,533 in July 2014.

Median sales prices for both single-family homes and condominiums also topped July 2014’s prices, MAR reported.

Separately, The Warren Group, which uses a different methodology, said Tuesday that the 7,077 single-family home sales in July signaled the best month for the Massachusetts market since June 2005. July saw the market's first return to the plus-7,000 homes level in more than 10 years, since the 7,239 sales recorded in June 2005, the Boston-based organization said.

And July marked a 24.3-percent year-over-year increase from July 2014, which saw 5,693 sales, the Warren Group reported.

Meanwhile, the median price of a single-family home in the Bay State sold last month was $365,000, up 1.4 percent from July 2014, MAR said. It was the 11th time in the last 13 months the median price rose compared with a year earlier. The Warren Group reported similar figures: a median of $359,900, up 1.38 percent from July 2014's median of $355,000.

“Busy buyers in the spring means closed sales in the summer and it was a very busy spring in Massachusetts,” MAR President Corinne Fitzgerald said. “While prices are moderating, they continue to be high because the demand is there and the inventory continues to remain low – an issue that has been going on for several years now.”