Belmont Follows National Lead in Housing Jump

The good news being heard about US home sales reported over the past week is showing up in Belmont as the Town of Homes joins in the up-turn on sales of residential real estate.

According to the Warren Group, the publisher of Banker & Tradesman, its housing data showed single-family home sales in Massachusetts rose more than 10 percent in January to reach its highest level since 2007.

And Belmont followed suit as residential sales jumped by 12.5 percent for the same month a year ago, although the sample size is quite small as one more single-family home was sold, nine, this January than the same month last year.

While the median price of single family homes rose statewide, it dipped by 1.32 percent in Belmont, falling by $10,000 to $750,000 which is nearly half-a-million dollars greater than the state-wide average which is the highest median home price for January in three years.

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With median home prices in Belmont some of the highest in the state, more residential buyers are opting for condominiums in town, as the number of condos selling in January nearly doubled during the same month a year earlier as five units were sold compared to two last January.

The median price for a condo in January 2013 in Belmont topped $400,000. 

The information comes on the heels of news that sales nationwide of previously-owned homes rose 9 percent and new-home sales jumped 29 percent in January from a year earlier. That information on new homes is the highest annual sales pace in four years, according to data released Tuesday, Feb. 27, by the Commerce Department.