Movoto Releases October 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: October month end inventories dropped 2.9%. Average list prices were mostly down with 6 of 9 large counties showing decreases in average list price. Distressed properties as a portion of the market were mostly stable though Plymouth, Suffolk and Worcester counties showed some increase.

Home Inventories: Home for Sale inventories are decisively DOWN across Massachusetts with 12 of 14 counties showing a month to month decrease in active listings. Across the state, total listings were down 2.9%

List Prices: Average list prices were mostly DOWN September to October with 8 of 14 counties showing a decrease in average list price. In contrast with last month 6 of 9 large counties showed a decrease in average listing prices.


Days On Market: The Movoto Days On Market report this month shows that 12 counties had an increase in inventory on the market greater than 90 days. Increasing from last month, 13 of 14 counties had more than 50% of homes on the market more than 90 days. This month 6 counties had more than 60% of homes on the market more than 90 days (up from 3 last month).

Distressed Properties: “Distressed Properties” share of the market showed small (if any) change in most counties. However, there may be signs of trouble in Plymouth, Suffolk and Worcester counties where distressed properties climbed by 0.3 to 0.4 percentage points.

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).