Beantown Bust: double dip hits Massachusetts
Prices and sales are falling, and inventory is up. Single family home sales in April were 20 percent below the level seen a year before.
This chart shows home prices in the Boston area from 2000 through March 2011. Home prices in Boston are close to the low level seen in March 2009.
Bill Sikes / AP / File
Looking at the latest data from the Massachusetts Association of Realtors and S&P/Case-Shiller, it is easy to see that the Bay State is now fully entrenched in the infamous housing "double-dip".
Prices and sales are falling, inventory is up and the monthly supply is over 10 months... now with no government tax scam muddying the view, the market is showing it's true "organic" trends while it continues slumping through the worst decline in generations.
The Massachusetts Association of Realtors (MAR) released their Existing Home Sales Report for April showing that single family homes sales increased 13% from March but fell a whopping 20% below the level seen in April 2010 with detached single family median home prices plunging 8.5% below the level seen last year.
Condo sales increased 12.1% from March but dropped 26.1% below the level seen in April 2010 while median selling prices increased 6.7% above the level seen a year earlier.
The S&P/Case-Shiller (CSI) Boston index indicated that area single family home prices declined 1.66% between February and March and registering a year-over-year decline of 2.66%, the eighth consecutive annual decline.
As for condos, the Boston condo CSI indicated area unit values declined 1.86% between February and March with values showing a year-over-year decline of 3.08%.
Single family homes stayed on the market for an average of 151 days while condos stayed an average of 135 days, both values significantly higher than the level seen last year indicating that the sales pace is continuing to slide while the monthly supply of both single family homes and condos remains at or above 10 months.
As in months past, be on the lookout for the inflation adjusted charts produced by BostonBubble.com for an even more accurate "real" view of the current home price movement.
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