In Hampshire County, the number of foreclosure deeds filed fell 72 percent, from 50 to 14. In Franklin County, the number of foreclosure deeds fell 51.6 percent, from 43 to 21.
SPRINGFIELD – Home sales fell 7.66 percent in the Pioneer Valley last month.
There were just 693 homes sold in the first quarter of 2011 in Hampden, Hampshire and Franklin counties compared to 750 single-family homes sold in the first quarter of 2010.
The median price paid for those homes also fell 6.4 percent, from $180,000 in the first quarter of 2010 to $168,500 in the first quarter of 2011, according to figures released Thursday by the Realtor Association of Pioneer Valley.
“When you look at the numbers, it is a challenge,” said Kathleen M. Witalisz, owner and broker at Witalisz Associates in Westfield. “I think the job market has to get healthier. Consumer confidence has to get better.”
Kevin M. Sears, owner broker of Sears Real Estate in Springfield, said poor winter weather kept sales low. March sales are homes that went under contract in January and February.
“Last year, we had snow that was here and gone,” said Sears, a past president of the Massachusetts Association of Realtors. “This winter, we were snowed under for days.”
Federal tax incentives for first-time home buyers were in force a year ago but have since expired, Sears said.
Witalisz, a past president of the Realtor Association of Pioneer Valley, said home sales typically improve as spring takes hold, but a month-to-month increase is an important sign that summer might show some year-over-year improvements. She said lenders are offering incentives to buyers. A 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 4.91 percent. The average was 5.07 percent a year ago.
In Hampden County, sales were down 9.4 percent, from 523 in the first quarter of 2010 to 474 this year. The median price was down 8.3 percent, from $169,000 in the first quarter of last year to $155,000 this year.
In Hampshire County, sales were down 0.7 percent, from 150 in the first quarter of 2010 to 149 in the first quarter of 2011. The median sales price rose 0.6 percent from $231,500 to $233,000.
In Franklin County, sales fell 9.1 percent, from 77 to 70 houses, and the median price fell from $165,000 to $155,500.
There was some good news on the foreclosure front, with the number of completed mortgage foreclosures falling all over the Pioneer Valley.
In Springfield alone, the number of foreclosure deeds filed in the first quarter was down 69.3 percent, from 179 a year ago to 54 in the first quarter of this year, according to data released by The Warren Group, a Boston-based provider of real-estate information.
For Hampden County as a whole, foreclosure deeds fell 66 percent, from 294 in the first quarter of 2010 to 100 this year.
In Hampshire County, the number of foreclosure deeds filed fell 72 percent, from 50 to 14. In Franklin County, the number of foreclosure deeds fell 51.6 percent, from 43 to 21.
Statewide, the number of foreclosure deeds fell 60 percent, from 3,449 in the first quarter of 2010 to 1,593 this year.
Foreclosure deeds are typically the last step in the foreclosure process.
But Eugene B. Berman, chairman of the Hampden County Bar Association’s foreclosure prevention task force, said the mortgage crisis is not really ending. Banks are just holding off because foreclosed-upon homes are hard to sell.
Also, in January the state’s highest court overturned two Springfield foreclosures because the foreclosing party couldn’t show proof that they owned the loan. Called the Ibanez case, the decision caused many lenders to stop their foreclosure processes cold while they reviewed each paper trail, Berman said.
