Continuing a four-month trend ├â┬ó├óÔÇÜ┬¼├óÔé¼┼ô one that has also prevailed in nine of the past 10 consecutive months ├â┬ó├óÔÇÜ┬¼├óÔé¼┼ô single-family home sales in Massachusetts rose year-over-year in April, according to ""The Warren Group"":http://www.thewarrengroup.com/, a New England real estate analytics firm.
[IMAGE]However, single-family home prices reversed a seven-month downward drift, rising 1.1 percent. The median sales price for single-family homes in Massachusetts now stands at $275,000.
On the other hand, the year-to-date median price is $264,900, which is 1 percent lower than the year-to-date price in April of last year, according to The Warren Group.
The relative flatness of prices over the last year and the sudden uptick after months of decline may signify that prices ""have hit
[COLUMN_BREAK]bottom and will start to increase in the second half of the year,"" ""Timothy M. Warren Jr."":http://www.thewarrengroup.com/about-us/management/, CEO of The Warren Group, said in a statement with the release of the Massachusetts data Tuesday.
Furthermore, ""[l]ow mortgage rates and an improving job market in the Bay State are encouraging buyers to enter the market,"" Warren said.
April, in fact, saw a 22 percent rise in sales year-over-year with 3,505 single-family home sales, the highest number of sales recorded in any month so far this year.
April, however, was not a complete anomaly; year-to-date sales are up 18 percent from last year reaching a total of 11,477 since the start of the year.
Condominium sales and prices also rose in April. Condo sales increased more than 12 percent year-over-year with 1,262 sales in April. Year-to-date condo sales in Massachusetts total 4,424, up 11 percent from the same period last year, according to The Warren Group.
The median sales price for condos rose 3.5 percent year-over-year in April. The median price is now $280,000. The year-to-date median price is lower ├â┬ó├óÔÇÜ┬¼├óÔé¼┼ô $257,250 ├â┬ó├óÔÇÜ┬¼├óÔé¼┼ô but it is still 4 percent higher than last year.
""It looks like the months ahead will continue to be positive as the strong spring and summer market heats up,"" Warren said. ""Typically, June is the biggest month of the year for real estate closings.""