Sales of homes and condominiums in Dedham and Norwood have continued to slump this year, mirroring the weak housing market statewide, while sales in Westwood and Walpole are starting to pick up, a real estate publisher says.
A report released yesterday by The Warren Group said sales from January to June in Dedham and Norwood were the lowest during that period - as well as for the month of June itself - since 2003.
Sales in Dedham were down 15 percent during the first half of 2007 and in Norwood they were down 4 percent, the report said. Both towns saw a modest drop in the number of single-family homes sold, but Dedham also saw a 40 percent drop in condo sales.
In Westwood, total sales were up 6 percent for the first half of 2007 compared with the first half of 2006. Walpole saw sales rise by 5 percent during the same period.
Statewide, The Warren Group report said home sales during June, typically one of the busiest months for real estate purchases, were down 8 percent from last June. Sales during the first half of the year were down 4 percent from the first half of 2006.
"If you are a home seller or a mortgage lender, this has to be disappointing," said Terry Egan, editor in chief of publications for the Warren Group. "I think early on in the year there had been predictions in some quarters that things would be getting better, but then interest rates picked up in May. It's a general malaise and we have seen prices working their way downward for over a year now."
Egan said the sales figures in the Boston suburbs and Norfolk County matched trends in the rest of the state pretty closely.
"It's really statewide now," Egan said. "There are a few pockets doing well, but now even the western part of the state is starting to feel it."
In Dedham and Norwood, housing prices, along with the number of properties sold, dropped to their lowest levels since 2003.
The median price of a single-family home in Dedham dropped from $380,000 in the first half of 2006, to $345,000 in the first half of 2007. In Norwood, median single-family home prices dropped from $375,000 in the first half of 2006 to $353,500 in the first half of 2007.
Despite the increased number of sales, Westwood and Walpole both saw median single-family house prices drop. In Westwood, the median price dropped from $550,000 in the first half of 2006 to $524,000 in 2007. During the same period in Walpole, sale prices dropped from $409,950 in 2006 to $401,500 in 2007.
But local real estate agents, who have weathered over a year of slow sales and stagnant prices, yesterday said the market in area towns was picking up and the numbers do not reflect what they are seeing.
"I would say since around March, I have never seen such a strong spring market," said Hope McDermott, a real estate agent in Dedham. "Because of the housing stall, prices have dropped, but buyers know sellers are not going to give things away and interest rates might go up soon."
Jerry Armstrong, of RE/MAX in Norwood, also said things were improving.
"There seems to be more activity and positive feelings," Armstrong said. "Prices have come down because they were overpriced to start with, but now brokers are coming in with a more precise number to start with."
Daily News staff writer Patrick Anderson can be reached at 781-433-8336 or panderso@cnc.com.
