Community Corner

Melrose Home Sales Stagnant as State Soars

While home sales across Massachusetts spiked in April and median home prices reversed a seven-month trend by increasing year-over-year, Melrose home sales and prices continued to stagnate so far in 2012.

While home sales across Massachusetts spiked in April and median home prices reversed a seven-month trend by increasing year-over-year, Melrose home sales and prices continued to stagnate so far in 2012, according to the latest figures from The Warren Group.

Last month, 17 single-family homes sold in Melrose, one more than in the same month last year. Statewide, 3,505 single-family homes sold, a 22 percent increase from 2,877 in April 2011, marking the fourth consecutive month and ninth month in the past 10 that sales volume increased year-over-year in Massachusetts.

(Click through the attached photos to see some of the homes that sold in Melrose in April from our weekly Sold! column, which runs every Thursday at noon.)

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Year-to-date sales of single-family homes in Melrose remains down, with 48 sold far in 2012, a 14 percent decrease from the 56 sold in the first four months of last year. Statewide, year-to-date sales are up more than 18 percent, with 11,477 homes sold so far this year, up from 9,679 during the same period last year.

In a press release, The Warren Group CEO Timothy M. Warren Jr. said that low mortgage rates and an improving Massachusetts job market are encouraging buyers to enter the real estate market.

Find out what's happening in Melrosewith free, real-time updates from Patch.

"It looks like the months ahead will continue to be positive as the strong spring and summer market heats up," Warren said in the release. "Typically, June is the biggest month of the year for real estate closings."

The median sale price of a single-family home in Melrose remained down in April compared to a year ago. Last month, the median price was $380,000, more than a 7 percent drop from the $411,500 median price in April 2011.

Meanwhile, the statewide median price for single-family homes sold in April rose 1.1 percent to $275,000 from $272,000 a year ago, the first time in the past seven months that median sale prices increased statewide according to The Warren Group.

Melrose's year-to-date median sale price for a single family home is down 5.4 percent, from $401,750 in the first four months last year to $380,000 so far this year. Statewide, the median sale price so far this year is $264,900, 1 percent lower than the $267,000 median price recorded during the same period in 2011.

"Median prices posted an increase last month and are nearly flat year-over-year, which indicates they may have hit bottom and will start to increase in the second half of the year," Warren said in the press release.

Melrose Condo Sales, Prices Down

Melrose's condominiums sales and median price are also down so far in 2012 compared to last year, while state sales and median price increased.

Three condominiums sold in Melrose last month, compared to five in April 2011, while statewide sales increased more than 12 percent year-over-year, from 1,214 to 1,363.

Year-to-date, 14 condominiums have sold in Melrose compared to 16 in the first four months of last year, while statewide sales have increased 11 percent, from 3,980 in the first four months of last year to 4,424 so far this year.

The median sale price of a Melrose condominiums last month was down more than 16 percent to $205,000, compared to $246,100 in April of last year. Statewide prices climbed 3.5 percent to $280,000 in April from $270,350 during the same month in 2011.

Melrose's year-to-date median condominium sale price is down 17 percent to $184,750, compared to $222,950 in the first four months of last year. The statewide median sale price, meanwhile, is up 4 percent to $257,250 from $247,000.

Information from a Warren Group press release was used in this report.


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