Lowell Deeds

We’ve been writing about the precarious state of the local housing market for many months. Today the mainstream media joined in rather emphatically, precipatated by yesterday’s release by the Mass Board of Realtors of August 2006 house sales. Two statistics broadly cited are that the number of properties that sold in August 2006 was the lowest since August 1995 and that the median price of a house sold in August 2006 was 6.1% less than a house sold in August 2005. This was the steepest one month drop since January 1993. The Lowell Sun article is “Housing decline deepens: August price drop is largest since 1993.” The Globe writes that “Mass home prices fall 6.1% as downturn gathers speed” and the Herald writes that “Housing ills a ‘weight’ on the economy.” Since the registry is able to measure sale faster than the Board of Realtors, we should be able to have similar comparisons for September 2006 by close of business this Friday.