AGENT MLS HOME FINDER

The Boston real estate market faces a major but diminishing challenge in the form of foreclosures as well as a hopeful sector in terms of home sales. WBUR News, an affiliate of National Public Radio, found that foreclosures have been declining since last year. According to the article, published on October 20, 2009, “Foreclosures in Massachusetts rose slightly in the third quarter of 2009, but fewer of the state’s residents lost their homes than in the same period last year. There were 2,098 foreclosure deeds filed between July and September, down nearly 30 percent from the 2,903 deeds recorded in the third quarter of 2008, according to The Warren Group, a Boston-based publisher of real estate data.”

A similar trend was noted by an October 20, 2009 article in the Boston Globe, which is good news for Boston homes for sale. The article, published in the Business Updates section, found that “There were 702 Massachusetts foreclosures in September, up 6.7 percent from 658 in August and down 12.1 percent from 799 in September 2008, reported the Warren Group, a Boston firm that tracks local real estate activity.” A different aspect was reported by an October 28, 2009 article in the Boston Herald, which found that “Single-family home sales in Massachusetts increased in September for the third  consecutive month, a sign that the region’s housing market is on the mend. ‘We’ve been saying that in order for the market to rebound, home sales numbers must increase for several months in a row, and we’re actually seeing that and it’s really good news,’ said Timothy Warren, CEO of the Warren Group, a real estate tracker and publisher of Banker & Tradesman.”

More good news for real estate in Boston was reported in an October 27, 2009 article in the Boston Globe. The piece found that “Single-family homes sales in Massachusetts increased for the third consecutive month in September, and the median price for homes sold dropped 1.4 percent to $285,000 from $289,000 from September 2008, the smallest drop in year-over-year monthly median home prices in about two years, the Warren Group said in a report on local residential real estate activity. The rise in sales was partly attributed to a temporary $8,000 tax credit for first time home buyers that the federal government implemented earlier this year, the Warren Group and the Massachusetts Association of Realtors said.”