Home sales in Virginia and Massachusetts began to slow in September, while prices continued to outpace those from a year ago, according to the Realtor associations in those states.
Virginia’s home sales may be starting to show greater balance between buyers and sellers, with numbers for the month of September showing a modest decrease, according to the Virginia Association of Realtors.
In September, 11,662 sales closed in Virginia, down 0.3 percent from 11,694 sales in September 2004. The September 2005 figure represents a 20.4 percent decrease from the 14,658 sales reported in August.
The areas showing the greatest increases in closed transactions during September included the Charlottesville area, Harrisonburg-Rockingham, the Chesapeake Bay & Rivers area, the Northern Neck, Richmond and South Central Virginia.
Virginia’s median existing-home price for September was $182,450, up 10.9 percent from the year-ago price of $164,475. The median is a typical market price where half of the homes sold for more and half sold for less.
In Massachusetts, sales of detached single-family homes totaled 4,464 in September, up 0.5 percent from 4,440 sales posted in September 2004, the Massachusetts Association of Realtors reported. The September 2005 figure was down 18.6 percent from August’s 5,482 sales.
Sales of condominiums were up 21.9 percent from a year ago, with Realtors reporting 2,133 closings in September compared with 1,750 in September 2004. The September 2005 figure fell 17.8 percent from August’s 2,596 sales.
The median price of a single-family home in the Bay State in September was $360,000, up 4 percent from $346,000 a year ago but down from August’s price of $375,000. The median condo price rose 3.9 percent during the same period, from $259,900 in September 2004 to $270,000 in September 2005, but was down 6.1 percent from August.
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