Massachusetts' 8th Consecutive Month of Single Family Sales Increase

Massachusetts

The state’s resilient housing market continued to show signs of recovery in March, as buyers chased discounted prices and posted the eighth consecutive month of single-family home sale increases.

“I’m excited about what’s happening,” Karl Case, co-creator of the Standard & Poor’s Case-Shiller Index told the BBJ."Over the last six months there have been lots of positive numbers: housing starts are up, inventories are down, first-time and speculative buying is on the rise.”

-- “Real Estate Market Getting More Competitive,” by Thomas Grillo, CBS Boston, April 23, 2012.

Some Economists Say that It’s a Good Time to Buy a House

Mark Kiesel, the Pacific Investment Management Co. managing director who sold his home in 2006 when he deemed the market a bubble, says it’s time to buy.  “I was one of the most negative on housing,” Kiesel said in a telephone interview. “I finally came to the conclusion housing is looking pretty decent.”

Economists including Mark Zandi of Moody’s Analytics Inc., Bank of America Corp.’s Michelle Meyer, CoreLogic Inc.’s Mark Fleming and Chris Rupkey of Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ said last month that housing prices are close to a trough.

“For those of you renting or on the sidelines, I recommend you at least consider getting ‘back in’ and buying a house,” Kiesel wrote. “The future is hard to predict, but U.S. housing is healing and is probably close to a bottom.”

-- “Pimco Housing Bear Kiesel Says It’s Time to Start Buying,” by John Gittelsohn, Bloomberg, May 4, 2012.

For today's homebuyers, the weight of the monthly mortgage bill is the lightest it's been in decades. In 98 of the top 100 metro areas, it's now cheaper to buy than rent.  “If you have good credit," says IHS Global Insight economist Patrick Newport, "this is the best time in 40 years to buy.”

-- “Mortgage Payments at Lowest Level in Decades,” by Beth Braverman, CNNMoney, April 23, 2012.