Mike Batty

Woburn's single family home sales market showed some early seasonal volume strength but has weakened in the past two months. With August sales numbers in, volume is low, but prices remained level in August. The graph below shows a line for the median price and bars for the numbers of homes sold.

In the Single Family market, there were 81 properties listed September 1. This represents a 22% decrease in inventory from the same time last year. Sales volume in August was again lower than last year with only 14 homes sold. Median sales prices weakened somewhat. It remains to be seen if the market can maintain strength as we move into fall. In August the average time on market dropped to 81 days. Currently we have less than a 6 month supply of property which indicates that the Woburn market remains in favor of those selling property. It should be noted that approximately 10% of the homes on the market are distressed properties so prices will experience some drag.

Waltham's single family home sales market showed some seasonal volume strength but has weakened in the past month. With August sales numbers in, volume is slightly low, and prices remained level in August. The graph below shows a line for the median price and bars for the numbers of homes sold.

In the Single Family market, there were 86 properties listed September 1. This represents a 9% decrease in inventory from the same time last year. The median sales price remained flat at $425,000. In August the time on market held at only 52 days, a positive indicator. The number of sales was 28. This is down slightly from July but 10% higher volume than last August. Currently we have only a 3 month supply of homes for sale which indicates that the Waltham market remains in favor of those selling property. With such a tight supply we should see price improvements in the Waltham market. It should be noted that approximately 8% of the homes on the market are distressed properties so prices will experience some drag.

Today the Boston Globe reported a summary of the Warren Group's report on Massachusetts foreclosure activities. ( http://www.boston.com/business/ticker/2008/09/mass_foreclosur_13.html?s_campaign=8299 )

They report that "Foreclosure activity has doubled so far this year" and that there have been 7,804 filings. They also report that filings experienced a sharp drop-off in May after a new law took effect requiring lenders to allow an additional 90 days for borrowers to repay loan defaults.

What the article doesn't comment on is what will be happening now that the extra 90 day period is expiring from all of the filings that have been waiting since May. June, July, August ... here comes the September rush? We'll have to see if there is a renewed surge in filings.

Locally we have been spared some of the worst of this. The Warren group report indicates that Worcester had 68 filings in July alone. In the 6 towns that I cover locally there have only been a total of 65 so far this year. Woburn has been the worst hit with 23 filings, Waltham and Burlington next with 15 each, then Arlington with 5, Lexington with 4 and Bedford with only 3. I say this, not to minimize the individual suffering involved in a foreclosure, simply to point out the relative strength of our local markets.

For anyone finding themselves in a foreclosure situation the market strength in this area should allow then to execute a short sale and walk away from the foreclosure without too much long term damage to their credit. I note on my website that short sales are roughly 10 % of the listings in Woburn and 8% of the listings in Waltham so it is clear that this route is helping many avoid foreclosure.

Given that the May 90 day extension is expiring it is clear that more people will find themselves in difficulty before this wave has exhausted itself. If you find yourself in such a difficult position please do not hesitate to contact me and I will provide you with professional service and support.

Burlington's single family home sales market showed some seasonal strength but has weakened in the past month or two. With August sales numbers in, volume is slightly low, and prices stumbled in August. The graph below shows a line for the median price and bars for the numbers of homes sold.

In the Single Family market, there are only 59 properties listed for sale. This represents an 18% lower inventory than the same time last year. The median sales price dropped in August breaking the summer's upswing. The sales volume improved with 13 homes sold, but this was still down 38% from last year. The average time on market for properties to sell bumped up to160 days, but was skewed by one home taking more than 2 years. Currently we have less than a 5 month supply of property which indicates that the Burlington market remains in favor of sellers.

Bedford's single family home sales market is having a strong summer, but may be running out of homes to sell. With August sales numbers in, the summer has been strong, volume is slightly low, but prices have been rising since the May low. The graph below shows a line for the median price and bars for the numbers of homes sold.

In the Single Family market, there were only 30 properties listed September 1. This represents a 32% decrease in inventory from the same time last year. August sales volume continued the summer surge with 14 home sales. Along with the increased volume the sales prices increased slightly. The average time on market dropped to only 57 days. The summer's spike in volume has reduced the supply of property to only 2 months, keeping the Bedford market in favor of those selling property. At this time the market is supply limited and needs new inventory to maintain volume levels. Counter to the national trends the market is in need of sellers.