Ouch.  Data just released for November sales in Massachusetts doesn't look good.  Although not unexpected, given the economic turmoil preceding the sales, it still is another dagger for the economy overall.  Unfortunately after a few month's of somewhat positive looking housing data (two straight month's of sales increases), I would say the financial crisis of September/October is starting to rear its ugly head in the home sales from November.  Most of these sales would have been negotiated during that time period, when the nation was completely paralyzed with the fear and lack of credit that we are still trying to work through.  Consumers were not buying anything at that time...never mind homes.  We'll see how long it takes to shake this downward trend, as the Treasury and Fed continue to pile economic stimulus money into the economy and housing market.  Mortgage rates are exceptionally low, and prices are becoming more affordable by the day....so it really comes down to bringing some confidence back to consumers and businesses as we head into 2009.

As for the actual data:

According to Massachusetts Association of Realtors data just released for November, the number of home sales (single family homes) in Massachusetts fell to 2,339 compared to 2,991 in November of 2007, making it an 21.8% drop.

Median prices fell to $283,000 last month from $330,000 in November 2007, a 14.2% decrease. Looking at the month to month data, compared to October 2008 the median price declined by 4.0%.

Condos faired similarly: The number of sales fell from 1,246 (November 2007) to 906 (November 2008), down 27.3%.  Median condo prices fell 9.1% to $250,000 (year over year) although it remained unchanged from October 2008 to November 2008.

Inventory of all residential property statewide continues to decline in terms of absolute numbers (a good sign) from 48,036 in November 2007 to 40,590 in November 2008, although because of the decline in sales activity, the amount of inventory measured in terms of month's required to sell all inventory has increased slightly to 12.5 months of supply for residential properties statewide.

Greater Boston market data to follow in another post....