Stoneham Home Sales in 2012 Surpass 2011

Massachusetts had its best year on record for home sales last year since 2006, according to The Warren Group, and Stoneham mirrored that statewide trend with increased sales of both single-family homes and condominiums.

In 2012, 177 single-family homes were sold in Stoneham, a 23.8 percent increase over the 143 sold in town during 2011, according to the latest figures from The Warren Group.

Statewide, single-family home sales rose more than 18 percent last year to 46,887, up from 39,594 home sales in 2011. That marks the highest number of sales since 2006 when there were 50,724 sales, according to The Warren Group.

"I would characterize 2012 as the year of robust recovery in the real estate market," Timothy M. Warren Jr., CEO of The Warren Group, said in a press release. "It is clear we have turned the corner and are gaining ground rapidly. I contrast the 18 percent gain last year with the decline of 6 percent in 2011."

The median sale price of a single-family Bay State home rose modestly in 2012, up 1.8 percent to $290,000 in 2012 from $285,000 in 2011.

Stoneham had a slightly higher increase in the median sale price, although still relatively modest: up 4.9 percent to $370,000 from $352,500 the year before.

December saw steeper year-over-year increases in the media sale price of single-family homes. In Stoneham, the media sale price was $341,000, a 17.6 percent increase over the $290,000 median sale price in December 2011.

Statewide, the median sale price rose more than 12 percent in December to $300,000, up from $267,250 in December 2011, which The Warren Group said is the first time since August that median home prices broke the $300,000 mark, and the first December since 2007.

"We saw strong gains in the median sale price in the fourth quarter of 2012," Warren said in the press release. "We haven't seen median prices increase that much in any month since 2005."

Condo Sales Up, Too

Stoneham saw an even higher increase in condominiums sales in 2012 compared to the year before, with 97 condos sold compared to 61 in 2011, a 59 percent increase.

Statewide, condo sales rose more than 25 percent to 19,061 from 15,191 in all of 2011. This is the highest number of condo sales statewide since 2008, when there were 20,109 transactions, according to The Warren Group.

The median sale price of a Stoneham condo rose 8.6 percent in 2012 to $215,000, compared to 2011's median price of $198,000.

The statewide year-to-date median condo price rose 2.6 percent to $277,000 from $270,000 in 2011.

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