GEORGIA TAFT PYE
Buyers ‘conservative’

The housing slump has thumped southeastern Massachusetts particularly hard.

Single-family home sales and prices dove in that region of the Bay State, declining even more sharply than in other parts.

Home prices in Bristol County plunged 8.7 percent through August of this year compared to the same months in 2006, while Plymouth County home prices dropped 6.7 percent. Statewide, the median selling price for homes sold during the first eight months of 2007 fell 4.7 percent to $316,500, according to statistics from The Warren Group, parent company of Banker & Tradesman.

In a similar fashion, single-family home sales in Plymouth and Bristol counties experienced steeper declines than statewide sales. Sales in Plymouth County fell 10 percent during the same period, while Bristol County home sales dropped 7.6 percent. Statewide sales through August were down 4.7 percent compared to last year.

Brokers struggled to explain the sales and price declines in that region. Some industry observers say loan defaults and tighter lending standards have hurt sales in some of the urban areas in southeastern Massachusetts. Market conditions have made buyers, particularly first-time buyers, cautious.

“Buyers are more conservative than ever and they are very nervous about overpaying,” said Georgia Taft Pye, a Duxbury-based buyer’s agent.

Some sellers have been unwilling to drop their asking prices to make a sale, according to local brokers. Taft Pye, owner of Buyer Brokers of the South Shore, said she has seen more sellers who stretched to purchase their homes in the past five years refuse to bend on their asking price because of the loan amounts they have to repay.

Even homeowners who are reducing prices are facing a tough time. A Cape-style home located on Prospect Hill Street in Taunton has been on the market for over a year, despite 10 price changes. Originally listed at $389,900 in May 2006, the home is now down to $324,900.

Another property on the market in Taunton has been on the market for four months. The home, a raised ranch on Tynan Avenue, was listed for $298,900 in June and was reduced to $287,500 in August.

“If you’re a seller that really needs to sell, you really have to come down,” said Kelly Lewis, owner of Century 21 Kelly Lewis in Taunton.

But Lewis said many sellers feel like they’ve reduced their asking prices enough.

“We have to teach and train sellers about what the prices are,” said Lewis, who is the Massachusetts Association of Realtors’ vice president of the southern region.

A total of 2,737 single-family homes were sold in Bristol County through August, down from 2,963 home sales last year, according to The Warren Group. The median price for homes sold during those months fell 8.7 percent to $273,000 from $299,000.

Some Bristol County cities have seen double-digit percentage declines in prices.

In Taunton, for example, the median home price plummeted nearly 11 percent to $260,000 from $291,420. Taunton’s year-to-date median price is 13.5 percent lower than the median price posted for homes sold through August 2005.

Taunton home sales also tumbled 18.6 percent, with 254 home sale transactions recorded through August 2007, compared to 312 last year.

Lewis, the Taunton broker, said first-time buyers searching in the Taunton area have a large selection of homes priced between $200,000 and $350,000 from which to choose.

There were 1,525 single-family homes priced from $200,000 to $349,999 listed for sale in Bristol County as of last Wednesday, a slight decline from the same day in 2006, but a 59 percent increase from the 957 listings in that price range 2005, according to MLS Property Information Network.

“A lot of people are waiting because they think it’s going to keep coming down more,” Lewis said.

The buyers’ hesitation means homes are taking longer to sell. Homes sold through the end of August in Bristol County took almost a month longer to sell than the same period in 2006. Bristol County single-family homes took an average of 147 days to sell – almost five months – compared to 119 during the same period in 2006, according to MLS PIN.

Plymouth County homes sold through those months took an average of 159 days to sell, just over five months, up from 136 days last year, MLS PIN data shows.

In Fall River, the median price through August 2007 fell 10.2 percent to $224,458 from $250,000. Sales in Fall River were also 7.6 percent lower than a year ago. New Bedford’s median home price declined 9 percent to $211,000 from $232,250.

‘A Better Year’

Brokers say cities like Fall River and Taunton, which typically draw more first-time buyers because of their lower prices, have felt the effects of the changing lending environment more.

“First-time buyers have been more impacted by the credit-crunch dynamics,” said David S. Drinkwater, president of Grand Gables Realty Group in Scituate.

Despite slower sales in some communities, home sales jumped in several of the region’s more affluent coastal towns, such as Hingham and Scituate, Drinkwater noted. He said his own firm’s sales are between 10 percent and 15 percent higher than last year.

“My experience has been that this has been a better year,” said Drinkwater, whose firm serves Scituate, Norwell, Hingham, Hull, Marshfield and Cohasset.

But Drinkwater acknowledged that there have been price adjustments.

Overall, 3,293 single-family homes were sold from January through August in Plymouth County, 10 percent below the 3,661 homes that sold through August 2006, according to The Warren Group’s statistics. The median home price fell 6.7 percent to $308,000 from $330,000.

Marshfield, Hingham and Scituate were among the communities bucking the countywide trend of lower sales. In Scituate, home sales and prices were up. A total of 152 homes were sold through August in that community, up 5.5 percent from last year. The median selling price climbed 2.5 percent to $487,500 from $475,500.

Meanwhile, 233 homes sold in Hingham, a 4.6 percent increase, but the median priced dipped about 2 percent to $600,000 from $612,000. In Marshfield, 209 homes sold through August 2007, up slightly from the 204 homes sold last year. Marshfield’s median home price declined to $365,000, an 8.6 decrease from $399,250 in 2006.