Medford Home Sales Jump Up in November

Medford and Massachusetts as a whole saw a big year-over-year increase in home sales in November, which marked the largest year-over-year increase in 2012, according to the latest figures from The Warren Group.

In Medford, 30 single-family homes were sold, a 36 percent increase over the 22 sold in November 2011. (Click through the photo gallery for homes sold in Medford in November taken from our Sold column, which runs every Thursday.)

Statewide home sales in November were up 38 percent from a year ago and The Warren Group that it was the best November for sales since 2005.

Year-to-date, 299 single-family homes have sold in Medford, a 27.8 percent increase over the 234 sold during the same time period in 2011. Statewide sales are up 22 percent compared to 2011.

"We're winding down a pretty strong year of real estate in Massachusetts," The Warren Group CEO Timothy M. Warren Jr. said in a press release. "It looks like sales will be the highest since 2006. We're also seeing median prices start to creep up, another positive sign of a healthy market recovery."

The median sale price of a single-family Medford home actually dropped in November to $322,500, from $327,500 in November 2011, but the statewide median price rose almost 2 percent to $275,000 in November, up from $270,000 a year earlier.

The year-to-date median sale price in Medford is up slightly to $350,000 from $340,000 in 2011, while the statewide median price is $288,000, down just a bit from $289,000 in the prior year.

Meanwhile, The Warren Group said that both single-family homes and condominiums in the Bay State had the same median price in November: $275,000.

"The popularity of condominiums as an alternative to apartment living has increased their pricing more than single-family homes," Warren said in the press release. "Last month we saw the unusual statistic that they have exactly the same median price."

Condo Sales Up in November, Too

Medford condo sales were up in November, too, albeit slightly, with 11 sold compared to 10 sold in the same month a year ago. Statewide sales rose more dramatically, up 33 percent.

Year-to-date, Medford condo sales are up 28.7 percent, with 175 sold in 2012 compared to 136 sold in the same time period in 2011, while statewide condo sales are up 27 percent year-to-date.

Meanwhile, the median sale price of a condo in Medford fell year-over-year to $282,000, a 6.2 percent drop from November 2011's median sale price of $300,500. In contrast, the statewide median sale price jumped more than 7 percent to $275,000, up from $255,950 a year earlier.

Through the first 11 months of 2012, the median sale price of a condominium has stayed relatively the same in Medford and statewide. In Medford, it's $282,000 so far compared to $280,000 in January through November of 2011. Across Massachusetts, the median price price is $276,000, up 2 percent from $270,000 a year ago.

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