A Measured Real Estate Rebound In MetroWest

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As we enter 2013, the MetroWest residential real estate market's performance over much of the past year has been brought into focus through data published by Boston-based real estate tracker The Warren Group.

The results in MetroWest for the first 11 months of 2012 kept pace with other areas of the state, which were hit harder by the foreclosure crisis that began in 2007.

Keeping Pace

Though some might be used to the MetroWest region outperforming the rest of the state economically, the region's residential real estate market seems pretty average of late.

First the good news: the 41 communities MetroWest – spanning from the I-495 belt up to Chelmsford and down to Foxborough – saw median home sale prices increase by an average of 22 percent through November compared to the same period in 2011, according to Warren Group data.

That's certainly an improvement, but it's also identical to the statewide single-family-home market's performance over the same 11 months.

Another indicator can be found in the number of foreclosure petitions initiated by lenders against delinquent borrowers. In late December, The Warren Group published data showing a sharp increase in petitions (which initiate new foreclosure proceedings) through November in MetroWest, up a combined 35 percent. Statewide, foreclosure starts were up 40 percent year over year as of November, but the picture has improved in the second half of 2012. Starts have fallen for six straight months.

Foreclosure completions, or deeds, were virtually flat in MetroWest compared to 2011. Statewide, deeds were down about 8 percent as of November, bringing them to their lowest level of 2012.

Though it may not be good news for homeowners, more foreclosure petitions when compared to last year largely reflects the market working its way through a backlog of delinquent loans that was slowed by legal challenges in 2011, Warren Group CEO Timothy Warren has said several times throughout the past year.

Warren spoke positively about the market on Wednesday in an announcement, saying that government-funded programs have helped lower mortgage delinquencies in recent months.

Strong And Weak Spots

Communities that have seem notable improvements in both median prices and the number of sales through November include: Medfield, which saw 33 percent more sales through November, while median prices climbed 16 percent to $590,000; Hopedale, which saw sales climb 22 percent and median prices increase 12 percent to $280,000; and Natick, where sales were up 11 percent and median prices more than 7.3 percent.

The markets in Berlin, Harvard and Boxborough have seen less success this year. In Berlin, sales were down 40 percent and median prices are flat; Harvard has seen a 12-percent decline in the number of sales and prices have fallen 12 percent (though its median price of $500,000 remains the sixth highest in the region); and Boxborough has seen home sales fall 10 percent and prices fall 15 percent.

Bellingham, Mendon and Maynard have topped the 2012 list so far in foreclosure starts compared to the number of housing units in each town.

Concord, Bolton, Stow, Natick and Sherborn topped the list of MetroWest towns with the least number of foreclosures per number of housing units.