Home sales across Virginia and Massachusetts dropped in December from their year-ago levels, while prices continued to increase, according to the Realtor associations in both states.
In Virginia, 10,565 transactions closed in December, a 10 percent dip from last December’s 11,745, according to the Virginia Association of Realtors.
Virginia’s median existing-home price for December was $180,260, up 6.2 percent from $169,725 for 2004. The median is a typical market price where half of the homes sold for more and half sold for less.
For 2005, the areas showing greatest increases in closed transactions in Virginia included the Charlottesville area, Harrisonburg-Rockingham County, Lynchburg, Chesapeake Bay & Rivers, Northern Virginia, South Central and Southwest Virginia, and Williamsburg.
In Massachusetts, single-family home sales dropped 8.8 percent in December from a year ago, the Massachusetts Association of Realtors reported, marking the fourth straight month of declines. There were 3,574 closed home sales last month, down from 3,921 in December 2004.
The median price of a single-family home was $354,000 in December, unchanged from November but up 2.6 percent from $345,000 a year ago.
Sales of condominiums in the Bay State totaled 1,627 in December, up 3 percent from the 1,580 sales reported a year earlier.
The median condo price rose 3.8 percent during the same period, from $264,950 to $275,000.
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