Home foreclosures in Boston followed the statewide trend of decline in pace and increases in home sales and prices in 2009 and in January this year, based on data from the Massachusetts Association of Realtors and a real estate information provider based in California.
Foreclosure activity in 2009 slowed by more than 19 percent in the Boston metro area. Similarly, the pace of foreclosure activity statewide declined by 18.5 percent in 2009. Home sales and prices stepped up throughout Boston, especially in the Dorchester, East Boston, Roxbury and Mattapan in 2009. Similarly, statewide home sales and prices increased in 2009 and in January this year.
Statewide, a total of 1,986 single-family detached homes were sold in January, marking more than 9 percent of increase from the January 2009 sales of 1,738 units. The sales volume, however, was lower by 37 percent than the total sales of 3,010 units in December 2009. Analysts, nevertheless, explained this December-January drop as normal since home sales records over the past years show large sales decreases after the holidays.
The sales price median for single-family houses in January statewide was $300,000, marking more than 14 percent of increase from the January 2009 median of $263,000. Compared to the previous month, the median price was lower by 1.6 percent at $305,000. Again, the price drop was explained partially as a result of the post-holiday factor.
The rate of home foreclosures in Boston in 2009 was not as high as 109 other large metro areas in the U.S., but the overall number of 23,828 filings was higher than many of them. This explained the continued increase in foreclosure list sales in the area.
In 2009, Massachusetts home foreclosures comprised 10 percent of all home sales during the year, marking an increase from the 7-percent share in 2008.
Statewide, total foreclosure filings exceeded 36,000, representing 1.3 percent of all households in the state. Similar to the middle ranking of Boston in foreclosure rate charts, Massachusetts also ranked in the middle of foreclosure charts. In 2009, it ranked 22nd among states.
Massachusetts not only posted gains in single-family sales, it also posted increases in condo sales, gaining a total sale of 849 units in January this year, up from 629 units in January 2009.
Similarly, according to data from Warren Group, sales of existing single-family homes and home foreclosures in Boston also increased in January, with Dorchester as among the most active market in the metro area.