June 23, 2008 Mass. housing reports up for interpretation Play video

(Peter Howe, NECN) - Two different reports on the Massachusetts home market find sales are down and so are prices. But exactly what those figures mean is up for interpretation.

Script:

Another month, another gloomy pair of reports on Massachusetts real estate, and some differing interpretations of what it all means.

First, let's go to the numbers. The Warren Group, publisher of real estate industry bible, Banker and Tradesman, and the Massachusetts Association of Realtors, both reported on May home sales. Warren Group says median prices were down 7.8 percent and the number of homes sold off nearly 13 percent from a year earlier. Realtors, counting a narrower set of sales, saw a steeper decline in year over year prices, 9.2 percent, but a less severe fall in sales, just over 10 percent.

But after months of double-digit drops, just single-digit drops may count as progress.

Paul Consoli has sold real estate for 26 years, through two recessions, from his family firm in Bradford, Massachusetts.

Consoli: It's finally getting to the point where people are saying 'hey, it might go down, but it might not, and if I am looking at a long term life choice and a decision to move into a home, this is probably a good time to make that happen.'

Consoli sells from Methuen up to Merrimac.

"We have noticed a certain amount of extra activity, inquiries, people asking questions about homes, calling on property."

Another arguably positive

data point was that in May, it took houses selling on average 143 days to clear the market, compared to 166 in April, and houses sold about as fast as they did in May.

But Warren Group cautions that it looks like this is a market that is stabilizing only at the low end, affordable starter homes, and high end places rich people never stopped being able to buy.