Defying expectations again, the Massachusetts housing market rebounded in November, with the volume of condo sales skyrocketing 53.6 percent from the year-earlier period and setting a record for the month, according to a report released by the Massachusetts Association of Realtors.
Judy Moore, the group’s president, attributed the surge to the economic recovery and 30-year fixed-rate mortgages below 6 percent. Low rates expand the pool of buyers. Afraid rates will soon rise, many consumers who had been vacillating scrambled to buy, she said.
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Until late last month, signs pointed to a softening in parts of the housing market. Before November, statewide sales for detached single-family homes fell three straight months, on a year-to-year basis. In addition, various reports noted that Massachusetts lost population in 2004 and that its economy is only slowly creating new jobs. Also, New England’s consumer-confidence plunged further over the last year than in any region in the country.
John Bitner, chief economist of Eastern Investment Advisors, a unit of Eastern Bank in Boston, warned against making too much of a one-month surge.
“November could be a blip,” he said. “I wouldn’t read too much into one month’s numbers. We think the market will be OK in 2005. It will be firm but not as strong.”
Meanwhile, nationwide sales of existing homes set a record pace in November, the National Association of Realtors said. In fact, 2004 is shaping up to be a record year both nationwide and in Massachusetts. In Massachusetts, the number of detached single-family homes sold in November was 4,063, up 17.4 percent from a year earlier, the Massachusetts Association of Realtors said.
It was the highest November since 1998 when 4,150 homes were sold, and ahead of 2004’s year-to-date pace. For the first 11 months of 2004, 47,470 have been sold, up 9.2 percent from the year-earlier period.
The median selling price for a detached single-family home in November was $345,950, up 14.6 percent from $302,000 in November 2003. The national median price for an existing home in November was $188,200, up 10.4 percent.