February 15, 2012 (Shirley Allen)

Contract signings to purchase homes in Massachusetts were up again in January, the ninth consecutive month that contract signings have exceeded the previous year’s totals according to the Massachusetts Association of REALTORS® (MAR).

An estimated total of 2,846 single-family home purchase contracts were signed in January, up 39.44 percent from the 2,041 contract signings in January of last year.

It was also 1.86 percent higher than in December 2011 when 2,794 single-family home purchase contracts were signed.

Contract signings to purchase condominiums were also up from last year, increasing from 846 signings in January of 2011 to an estimated 1,064 in 2012.

Signings were up 0.66 from December 2011 when 1,057 condominium purchase contracts were signed.

Trisha McCarthy, president of MAR, stated, “It’s nice to see that the buyer activity that REALTOR® members across the state have been seeing has been confirmed in the pending sales report for January,” said 2012 MAR President Trisha McCarthy, broker at Keller Williams Realty in Newburyport. “The mild weather in January was a bonus on top of improving job numbers and continued low interest rates. Hopefully the settlement between the states and the five largest mortgage lenders regarding foreclosure practices will provide additional stability and confidence in the market.”

Year-over-year, purchase contracts for single family homes and condominiums have increased for the last nine consecutive months and it was the first monthly increase in five months for single-family home purchases and the first monthly increase for condominium purchases in four months.

Contract signings are a forward looking indicator which generally indicates closings one to two months in the future.

Tags: existing homes, condos, sales, median home prices, Massachusetts, contract signings, pending home sales

Source:
MAR