Sales for the first eight months of 2011 are down 12 percent compared with January through August of last year, according to Warren Group.
“It is unlikely sales volume [for 2011] will surpass the large numbers posted in 2010,’’ said Cory S. Hopkins, managing editor of the weekly newspaper Banker & Tradesman, published by Warren Group.
While the number of sales went up in August, median home prices fell, suggesting more buyers were looking for properties at the lower end of the market, housing specialists said. Median home price, or the midpoint price, slid to $305,700, a 3.4 percent drop compared with the same time last year. Between January and August, the median price fell to $296,000, a 1.3 percent decline from the same period in 2010.
“Buyers took advantage of low interest rates and more affordable pricing to purchase a home,’’ said Laurie Cadigan, president of the Massachusetts Association of Realtors.
Tom Courtney, president of the Northeast Association of Realtors, based in the Merrimack and Nashoba valley regions, said some buyers are so intent on seeking rock-bottom deals that they are unnecessarily walking way from properties that would have met their needs.
“Many of today’s home buyers are looking for a steal, rather than a deal,’’ Courtney said. “They seek perfection in homes for sale, rejecting properties with the smallest or easily fixable issues.’’
As prospective home buyers haggle over details of a transaction, the time needed to sell single-family homes increased to 106 days in August this year compared with 95 in August 2010, according to the Massachusetts Association of Realtors, which also released data yesterday. Condominiums took an average of 105 days to sell last month, compared with about 100 days during August 2010, the association said.
