Mass. home sales up first time in 6 months - Boston Globe

The Massachusetts Association of Realtors, which tracks a slightly narrower swath of the Real Estate market, also reported an increase in home sales yesterday, up about 14 percent. Condominium sales fell last month compared to July 2010. Through the first seven months of 2011, single-family home sales are lagging the same period last year. Sales in July 2010 were particularly depressed following the expiration of the tax credit. Certainly, if we had been down that would have been a bigger problem. This year, 20,893 single-family homes have been sold in Massachusetts - about 4,000 fewer than a year ago. Year to date, condo sales are down 26 percent, to 8,295 from 11,208 in 2010. It was the third straight month that median prices exceeded $300,000. Mortgage rates, hovering near 4 percent for a 30-year-fixed loan, hit a record low last week, according to Freddie Mac, the government-owned mortgage company. After you register and pick a screen name,you can publish your comments everywhere on the site. Realtors