Buyers' market in Massachusetts

The Boston Globe reports on Massachusetts real estate:

And across Massachusetts, the average number of single-family homes for sale each month during the first quarter of 2006 rose by 16,467, to a record 55,338 homes, the Massachusetts Association of Realtors said.

Homes are piling up on the market because sales have slowed dramatically in the past year. Sales of single-family homes fell to their lowest April level since 1995, according to a monthly housing report issued yesterday by the Warren Group, a Boston firm that collects real estate data.

Single-family home sales fell 16.5 percent last month, to 4,142 statewide, compared to the same month last year.

The condominium market, which until recently had better withstood the housing slowdown, experienced a 15.3 percent decline in sales last month, to 2,420 units.

With more properties on the market, prices have stabilized, after years of substantial appreciation. The median sales price for a single-family home in Massachusetts was unchanged last month, at $335,000, and condos held steady as well, at $272,340.

During the 2000-2005 real estate boom, prices increased 80 percent.

It doesn't help being in a state that's actually losing population.