The median sale price of single-family homes in Massachusetts was $350,000 in June, up nearly 9 percent when compared with the same month a year ago, the Warren Group said Tuesday.
Timothy M. Warren Jr. Photo taken from the Warren Group’s website.
“No monthly median price had been this high for any month since August 2007,†Warren Group chief executive Timothy M. Warren Jr. said in a statement. “Buyers have come out to the market in droves and aggressive bidding is driving up prices. While not a problem at this juncture, I hope for more modest increases in the future. We don’t want to see prices rise to the point where homeownership becomes unaffordable.â€
One factor driving up prices: A shortage of homes on the market, the Massachusetts Association of Realtors has said.
Headquartered in Boston, the Warren Group tracks local real estate activity. It also publishes Banker & Tradesman.
On a volume basis, Massachusetts single-family home sales increased in June, climbing to the highest level for any month in three years. In the Bay State, 5,591 single-family homes were sold in June, up 1 percent on a year-to-year comparison basis, the Warren Group said.
But local condo sales fell. A total of 2,189 Massachusetts condos were sold in June, down about 3 percent from a year ago. The median selling price of a condo last month was $320,000, up 3.2 percent.
Commenting on the current state of the local housing market, Timothy Warren said: “The housing market continues to boom locally and nationally. As long as mortgage rates and home prices don’t spike too high, we’ll see a very strong recovery year for the market in 2013.â€
The Massachusetts Association of Realtors also issued a report on the local housing market Tuesday. It uses a different method to track sales. But the association’s findings were roughly in line with those of the Warren Group’s.
The association said that both June sales and median prices were up and “reached their highest points in several years.â€
In a statement, association president Kimberly Allard-Moccia said: “Rising median prices and the high number of closed sales in June are a good reflection of how active the Massachusetts real estate market was this past spring. The growing concern that our historically-low interest rates would move higher and the continued lack of inventory prompted buyers to make offers that boosted up both prices and sales in June.â€
Meanwhile, a story in Tuesday’s Globe noted that condominium prices in Boston’s downtown market jumped to a record high in the second quarter of the year, driven partly by strong demand and tight inventories.
Chris Reidy can be reached at reidy@globe.com.
