Today we issued our July 2011 housing numbers and both single-family and condo sales were up over the same time last year. This is the first year-over-year increase in six months. Single-family median prices were down from 2010, but condominium median prices essentially flat. Sales and median prices were down for both single-family homes and condos from June. (see graphs below).
Seeing year-over-year sales go up in July was positive, but also somewhat expected as sales in July 2010 went down because of the rush to close by the June 30, 2010 tax-credit deadline.
One issue that MAR is concerned about is the potential lapse of the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) if Congress doesn’t re-authorize the program by September 30. Since 1968 the NFIP has been providing affordable flood insurance to home owners who live in areas with higher risk for flood. The last time a lapse happened in June 2010, the National Association of REALTORS(R) calculated that 47,000 home sales were delayed or canceled because of the lapse. This could have a negative impact on the “Bay State” housing market if Congress lets the program expire again.
Click the link to see the July 2011 Housing Release and listen to the monthly podcast with MAR President Laurie Cadigan.
Highlights from the release:
- Single-family home sales were up 17.7% compared to last year
- Single-family median prices were down 3.1 %
- Condo sales were up 13.35% compared to the same time last year.
- The median price for a condo was up .11% compared to last year.
