The Warren Group, a 137 year old real estate and financial information company based in Boston, stated that sales in the state of Massachusetts were off in February. Way off.
They reported that a total of 866 condos were sold in the state in February. This was down an amazing 30 percent from the 1,236 that were sold a year earlier. Coupled with this news was their statement that the median condo price fell 14 percent to $220,000 from $255,750 in February 2008.
This is where it gets interesting.
The Massachusetts Association of Realtors (MAR) also issued a monthly report on the local housing market. The association uses a slightly different method to track real estate activity than the Warren Group does.
According to MAR, condo sales only fell by 16.4 percent, from 827 units sold in February 2008 to 691 units sold in February 2009. How do they get such drastically different numbers? Well when it comes to sales price, the two organizations were much closer. MAR stated that February’s median condo price dropped 15.4 percent last month, from $252,000 in February 2008 to $213,250 in February 2009.
I think this should be a lesson for all of us to know that numbers can be sliced and diced in many different ways by many different groups.
For more information about Massachusetts real estate, click here.