Mass. home sales rise in October

Single-family home sales and prices in Massachusetts rebounded in October after recent declines, a Boston real estate tracking firm reported Tuesday.

Sales rose 1.4 percent, compared to a year earlier, the first time since June that year-over-year sales increased, the Warren Group said. The median price, which in September fell for the first time in two years, also rose, to $320,000 from $313,500.

“These numbers reflect sales from late summer house-hunting,” said Timothy M. Warren Jr., Warren Group’s chief executive. “For a year now, the entire market has been pretty flat.”

While there are hot markets in some Boston neighborhoods and nearby communities, activity in recent months has been largely disappointing. A year ago, the state’s housing market seemed poised to take off; bidding wars broke out, sales jumped, and prices followed.

But the activity slowed. In the first 10 months of 2014, single-family home sales fell nearly 3 percent, compared to the same period in 2013.

Condo sales rose in October, about 4 percent from a year before. The median sale price in the state fell 3.3 percent to $290,000 from a year earlier.

Separately, the Massachusetts Association of Realtors said home sales rose just under a half percent from October 2013 and the median price rose to $325,000 from $320,000. The group, which tracks a slightly smaller segment of the housing market than Warren Group, said the inventory of homes and condos for sale fell for a 48th straight month.