RON MORRISON
‘Real estate is local’
Realtors in the Merrimack and Nashoba valleys are expecting home prices and sales to stabilize this year.
“The local market is holding up fairly well,” said Dennis Page, a Tyngsboro agent and president of the Northeast Association of Realtors.
At a briefing Thursday, Page said the selection of for-sale properties and low interest rates are good signs for the region’s buyers.
“The market is especially favorable for first-time buyers who don’t have a home to sell,” he said.
But Page noted that foreclosures will keep putting pressure on values this year, particularly in cities like Lowell and Lawrence.
“Foreclosures will continue to have an effect on market supply in 2008, especially in local urban communities, although governmental efforts to increase the supply and availability of mortgage money for subprime borrowers should help to limit the number of new foreclosures and also help bring new buyers to the market,” said Page, of RE/MAX Prestige in Tyngsboro.
The median price for a single-family home in the Merrimack and Nashoba valleys fell 2.8 percent to $350,000 last year from $360,000 in 2006, according to the association. Meanwhile, sales dipped 2 percent. A total of 2,927 homes sold in 2007, compared to 2,988 the year before.
Even though most of the region’s communities saw prices retreat, some towns experienced a jump in values. Westford’s median home price reached $485,000 last year, up 13.8 percent from the prior year, according to The Warren Group, parent company of Banker & Tradesman. Andover’s median rose to $539,900 from $520,000 in 2006, a 3.8 percent increase, according to the company.
“I think it proves real estate is local,” said Ron Morrison, owner of ERA Morrison in Westford.
Some economists have projected a further erosion of home prices in Massachusetts during the first half of the year. Morrison predicted home prices this year will not plunge. “They will go down, but they won’t go down substantially,” he said.
Realtors at the briefing stressed the importance of Congress raising the caps on loans insured by the Federal Housing Administration. Last week, the House and Senate passed an economic stimulus package that includes an increase in loan limits from $417,000 up to $729,750 in high-cost areas.
Higher loan limits will help expand the buyer pool and give a significant boost to the housing market, according to Realtors.
“This is really important Â… to reduce the down payment requirement and increase the loan amount,” said Morrison.
Several brokers said they are seeing more consistency in prices and sales. Andover broker Christopher Doherty noted sales are remaining stable in North Andover, Andover and Boxford.
A total of 251 homes were sold in North Andover last year, down 14 percent from the 293 sales in 2006 and 23 percent lower than 2005 when 327 homes sold, according to The Warren Group.
North Andover’s median home price fell 9 percent to $464,000 from $510,000 in 2006. Last year’s price was the lowest it’s been since 2003, when the median was $455,000, The Warren Group’s data show.
Doherty, who owns Prudential Howe & Doherty Realtors, said the town’s sales were hurt by the forced resignation of the former school superintendent and the search for his replacement. But he said market conditions should improve now that an interim school superintendent has been named.
“I consider North Andover to be the best buy in the Northeast,” he added.
As for multifamily properties, Page said he was starting to see more investor activity. Investors, he noted, are searching for deals as foreclosures mount. There was almost a 22 percent increase in pending sales of multifamily properties in the region during the month of January compared to a year earlier, he said.
Multifamily property sales in the region plunged 31.7 percent last year from 2006, according to Northeast Association of Realtors. The association also said the median price for a multifamily home in the Merrimack and Nashoba valleys fell 19.4 percent to $270,000 from $335,000.
