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Signs of life for Mass. housing – Metro US

Signs of life for Mass. housing

A day after a national report signaled a slump in the housing market, local numbers told another story as sales of single-family homes continued to rise in Massachusetts.

According to The Warren Group’s monthly report released yesterday, the number of single-family home sales jumped 3 percent in the state in 2009. And with 3,350 home sales transactions last month, sales were up 16.8 percent compared to December 2008.

All this after a report released Monday by the National Association of Realtors said that existing home sales fell 16.7 percent nationwide in December from November.

In Massachusetts, however, there are other signs of promise.

“December was the first month in more than two years that the monthly median home price climbed year-over-year,” said Timothy M. Warren Jr., CEO of The Warren Group.

Indeed, the median home price rose 10.4 percent to $295,000 last month from $267,250 in December 2008. It marks the first year-over-year increase in monthly median home prices since September 2007.