Movoto Releases March 2008 Massachusetts Home Market Statistics

http://www.movoto.com/, the spot on the internet to find and buy a home in Massachusetts, today released the company’s monthly Massachusetts home inventory report. Movoto’s report is drawn from the MLS Property Information Network of Massachusetts and gives a snapshot of local inventories of homes for sale, average list prices, time on market and inventory of distressed properties.

General Trends: March inventories edged up over February, reflecting the ongoing spring selling season. Average list prices were up in 6 counties and down in 6 counties, but over the whole state were up just slightly. Distressed properties as a portion of the market were relatively stable with only small changes in most counties.

Home Inventories: Home for Sale inventories are generally UP across Massachusetts with 11 of 13 counties with showing a month to month INCREASE in active listings. The general trend indicates that the spring home selling season is continuing to take effect.

List Prices: Average list price changes were MIXED February to March with 6 of 14 counties showing an increase in average list price. Overall list price changes are small, indicating a stable pricing environment for homes in Massachusetts.


Days On Market: The Movoto Days On Market report reflects increasing new listings coming to market and a reduction of aged listings. New listings are higher with as many as 30% of homes on the market listed within the last 30 days. In 12 of 13 counties more than 40% of homes listed are languishing on the marketing more than 90 days. Homes on the market more than 90 days showed a significant improvement over February where 12 of 13 counties had over 50% of the homes on the market more than 90 days.

Distressed Properties: “Distressed Properties” share of the market showed an INCREASE in 6 of 13 Massachusetts counties. General changes in distressed inventory are small, indicating that foreclosures are being sold at roughly the same rate as new foreclosures come on the market.


Movoto defines distressed properties as any property that has an agent note in the MLS that defines the property as “Bank Owned”, “In Foreclosure”, “Short Sale” (where the owner is trying to sell at a price below the mortgage balance to avoid foreclosure) or “REO” (a term used to indicate the property is bank owned).