Today, Massachusetts Association of Realtors released the December 2010 and Year-end housing numbers. This is the first time that year-over-year monthly sales went up since June, which was the final month to close on a home and qualify for the home buyer tax credit. The other news is that December median prices went down and this is the first time this has happened in 13 months.

On a yearly basis, 2010 finished up pretty close to 2009 in terms of sales – down less than two percent. However, median prices did go up in 2010 compared to 2009.

Points of interest:
There were 3,172 detached single-family homes sold this December, a 5.4 percent increase from the 3,010 homes sold the same time last year.

On a month-to-month basis, home sales were up 21.3 percent from 2,615 homes sold this past November.

The median selling price for single-family homes in December was $285,950 a decrease of 6.2 percent compared to $305,000 in December 2009. This is the first year-over-year decrease in 13 months.

On a month-to-month basis, the December median selling price was down 4.7 percent from $299,900 in November 2010.

The December condominium market was essentially flat, down 0.3 percent compared to the same time last year (from 1,242 units sold in 2009 to 1,238 units sold in 2010).

On a month-to-month basis, condominium sales were up 27.0 percent compared to the 975 units sold this past November.

Condominium median selling prices in December were down 0.6 percent from the December 2009 median price (from $255,000 to $253,368).

On a month-to-month basis, the median selling price of a condominium was down 7.9 percent from an November 2010 median of $275,000.

Inventory and Days on Market:
The inventory of single-family homes as of December 31, 2010 increased 11.0 percent from December 2009 (21,743 listings in 2009 to 24,107 listings in 2010) which translates into 7.6 months of supply in December 2010. This is up from 7.2 months of supply last year and down from 10.7 months in November 2010. This was the tenth straight month of inventory gains.

The inventory of condominiums on the market in December was up 1.0 percent compared to the year before (8,942 listings in 2009 to 8,990 listings in 2010), which translates into 7.3 months of supply, which is up from 5.6 months in December 2009 and down from 10.7 months this past November.

Detached single-family homes stayed on the market an average of 132 days in December 2010 compared to an average of 125 days in December 2009.

Condos stayed on the market an average of 134 days, down from an average of 136 days in December 2009. On a month-to-month basis, days on market for single-family homes were the same as November while condos were down from 139 days.

2010 Year End Sales and Prices:
The number of detached single-family homes sold in 2010 went down 1.2 percent from 2009 (from 37,707 to 37,236 homes).

The number of condominiums sold in 2010 went down less than one point (0.7 percent) from (15,285 to 15,177 units).

The median price for a single-family home increased 4.3 percent from 2009 (from $290,000 to $302,500). The condominium market saw median prices increase 6.3 percent from 2009 (from $252,000 to $268,000).

Single-family homes stayed on the market 123 days on average in 2010, as compared to 136 days on average in 2009. The average monthly inventory (28,763 homes) was up 6.6 percent from 2009 (26,984 homes). This translates to 9.2 months of supply on average for 2010 compared to 8.6 months of supply on average in 2009.

Condominiums stayed on the market 131 days on average in 2010, compared to 147 days on average in 2009. The average monthly inventory (11,239 units) was 0.8 percent lower than the 2009 average level of 11,330 units statewide. This translates to 8.7 months of supply on average for 2010, compared to 8.6 months of supply on average in 2009.

Source: MAR