Needham Home Sales Down, Prices Up, Compared to Last Year, Says Report

Following a trend in Massachusetts of decreased home sales, Needham saw a significant decrease in August compared to a year ago, according to a recent report.

Needham had 43 single-family home sales in August this year compared to 50 last year. For the year, Needham has had 271 home sales compared to 290 last year, according to The Warren Group, publisher of Banker & Tradesman, which released the sales figures on Tuesday.

House prices went down in Needham, too. The median sale price for a single-family home in Needham in August was $744,000, which is down from $835,500 from a year ago, marking a 10.95 percent decrease. For the year, the median sale price went up by 6.62 percent, increasing from $755,000 to $805,000 after the first eight months of 2013.

Massachusetts

Statewide, Massachusetts had its sixth month in which sales decreased year-over-year in 2014.

A total of 5,417 single-family homes were sold in August compared to 5,797 last year. For the year, sales are down from 33,399 in 2013 to 32,382 this year.

The median price for the month was up slightly from a year ago. A similar increase has been seen throughout the first eight months of the year compared to 2013.

Realtors have been concerned about the lack of housing inventory this year and The Warren Group CEO Timothy M. Warren said there could be an another issue influencing the disappointing August numbers.

“Home sales volume has been a bit disappointing all summer,” said The Warren Group CEO Timothy M. Warren Jr. “As reported in this week’s Banker & Tradesman, there is a discrepancy between the increase in pending sales and the number of closed sales transactions. It could be due to tough mortgage underwriting standards or cold feet after a rushed offer.”

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