Mass. home, condo sales tumble

The Boston Globe reports:

Home sales in Massachusetts tumbled 16.6 percent and condominium sales declined 14.3 percent in June, but the dramatic slowdown in sales had little impact on real estate prices.

The median price of a single-family home fell just 1 percent last month, to $370,000, as compared with June 2005, according to the monthly sales report by The Massachusetts Association of Realtors.

Similarly, the median condo price fell 1.1 percent in June, to $283,500, only the second time in the last four years that prices were lower than the same month a year earlier.

Higher mortgage interest rates and uncertainty about the real estate market caused buyers to be more cautious. As homes stay on the market longer, the supply of unsold homes is growing, putting pressure on prices.

``Prices are going to go down -- there's no question about that," said Karl Case, a Wellesley College economics professor who specializes in the housing market. ``The only question is how far and for how long," he said. Continued strength in the economy in coming months will be key to preventing a sharp price declines, he said.

You've been warned.