Real estate transactions in Beverly follow statewide trend upwards in October

Real estate transactions in Beverly followed a statewide trend upwards last month, with about 45 percent more homes sold throughout the city in October than in the same month last year, according to numbers released Tuesday by the Warren Group, a New England real estate tracker.

Buyers purchased 32 single-family homes in Beverly last month, up from 22 in October of 2011, putting the city at a total of 231 sales for the year, up from 198 through the first 10 months of last year.

Condo sales increased slightly as well, with eight transactions last month, two more than in October of last year. Through October, condo sales are up more than 36 percent for the year, with a total of 75 sales closed.

The increasing activity in Beverly reflects a statewide trend that saw condo sales rise for the ninth straight month, according to the Warren Group, and single-family home sales across Massachusetts through the first 10 months of the year eclipsing the mark for all of 2011, CEO Timothy Warren Jr. said.

"Record low mortgage rates, an improved economy and growing consumer confidence are boosting the housing market in Massachusetts and around the country," Warren said in a statement.

A total of 39,491 homes have been sold so far this year in the Bay State, up 22 percent from 32,428 during the same period a year ago.

But while the median price of a home across the state has dropped slightly year-to-date, a less than 1 percent fall to $287,500, prices in Beverly have risen. From January through October, the average home in Beverly went for about $357,500, more than 9 percent higher than over the same period in 2011.

In October of 2011, the average sale price of a home was $312,250, compared to $361,000 last month.

For complete town-by-town data for single-family home sales, click here. Condo numbers can be found here.

County-by-county sale numbers for single-family homes can be found here, and condos here.

Ryan Mooney can be reached at globe.mooney@yahoo.com. Follow him on Twitter @mooney_ryan.

Source: http://www.boston.com/yourtown/news/beverly/2012/11/real_estate_transactions_in_be.html