In September, the Boston, MA market saw a decline year-over-year in new home sales, but the percentage fall, which was less steep than in August 2011, seemed to be hinting at market improvement. There was a 14.6% fall in new home sales from a year earlier. In comparison, new home sales in the same month last year saw a 16.8% fall year-over-year in August.

A total of 1,521 new homes were sold during the 12 months that ended in September, down from 1,541 for the year that ended in August.

Out of all housing sales, new home sales accounted for 7.3%. A year earlier, new home sales made up 6.5% of total sales. Sales of new and existing homes declined year-over-year in September after also falling in August year-over-year.

The average price of newly sold homes fell 13.6% year-over-year in September to $418,941 per unit. The decline is a downward shift from a 17.5% boost in August year-over-year.

For newly sold homes, the average mortgage size slid year-over-year in contrast to average price of new homes. In September 2011, the average mortgage size on newly sold homes saw a 12.1% fall from a year earlier. In August 2011, average mortgage size jumped 22.3% from a year earlier. The overall percentage of sale price that was being financed rose 1.0 percentage points year-over-year to 63.2% in September 2011.

Single-family homes accounted for a greater percentage of new home sales than last year. The share of new home sales belonging to single-family homes gained from 65.7% in September 2010 to 78.6% of sales in September 2011. At the same time, the share of new home sales belonging to attached units declined to 21.4% of sales from 34.3% of sales.

For all new homes sold, the average unit size fell 17.3% year-over-year to 1,657 square feet in September 2011. A decrease in both the average size and price of newly sold homes was also seen in August 2011 when the average size grew 39.2% to 1,575 square feet.

Foreclosures and real estate owned (REO) sales stayed a drag on the market. Out of all existing home sales, foreclosures combined with REO sales accounted for 52.2% of sales. In September 2010, they made up 44.1%. The percentage of existing home sales involving foreclosures rose to 27.0% in September from 24.5% a year earlier while REO sales as a percentage of existing home sales increased to 25.3% from 19.6%.

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