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same quarter in 2012. Year-to-date, sales were up 0.12 percent to 21,659 as of the end of June. "The housing market continues to boom locally, and nationally," Warren said. "As long as mortgage rates and home prices don't spike too high, we'll see a very strong recovery year for the market in 2013." Year-over-year, home prices also increased statewide for the ninth consecutive month. The median sales price of single-family homes in the Bay State was up to $350,000 in June, a 9 percent increase over the $321,800 recorded June 2012. Quarterly prices were up more than 10 percent to $330,000, while the median price year-to-date was $315,000, up 12 percent over the same period a year ago. According to Warren, the last time the monthly median price reached June's level was August 2007. "Buyers have come out to the market in droves and aggressive bidding is driving up prices. While not a problem at this juncture, I hope for more modest increases in the future," he said. "We don't want to see prices rise to the point where homeownership becomes unaffordable." Condominium sales in Massachusetts fell in June, dropping more than 3 percent yearover-year to a total of 2,189. That decrease was accompanied by a rise in the median sales price, which increased to $320,000—up 3.2 percent year-over-year. Pro Teck Sees Strong Performance Among New England Markets While states in the Northeast have generally lagged behind the housing recovery seen in many other states across the nation, a few markets in the New England region are beginning to look favorable, according to a Home Value Forecast report from Pro Teck Valuation Services. In fact, in Pro Teck's review of the top 200 core-based statistical areas (CBSAs) across the United States, the top two rankings went to CBSAs in the Northeast—CambridgeNewton-Farmingham, Massachusetts and Providence-New Bedford-Fall River, Rhode Island-Massachusetts. Pro Teck's rankings are based on a number of housing market indicators, including home prices, active listings, foreclosure data, and average number of days on market, among other measures. Pro Teck highlights the fact that Concord, Massachusetts—located within 126 the Cambridge CBSA—is somewhat of an outlier in that it has outperformed its neighbors. "There are a number of reasons for the historical and forecasted outperformance of this ZIP code, which include the fact that homebuyers in this ZIP code have historically been better capitalized and, thus, better able to weather declines in home prices," Pro Teck stated. While the Northeast claimed the top two spots on the list, the top 10 markets covered most regions of the country. Texas claimed three spots on the top 10 list with Houston and Dallas landing the third and fourth spots, respectively, and San Antonio taking the sixth spot. North Carolina CBSAs— Raleigh, Durham, and Charlotte—took the following three spots, which is notable because "[t]hese markets had also been lagging somewhat," according to Pro Teck. "Of note is that all of the top 10 markets . . . . are exhibiting positive trends in every one of the indicators that we follow," Pro Teck explained in its report. The bottom 10 CBSAs in Pro Teck's survey also represent most regions of the country. High inventory and annual declines in sales are common threads in all bottom 10 CBSAs. Also, with Portland, Oregon, as the lone exception, "the common theme among these is that all are relatively small markets based on both population size and sales activity," according to Pro Teck. Washington, Alabama, and Tennessee each had two CBSAs among the bottom 10 rankings. Commercial Real Estate Loan Prices Mixed in June DebtX, a full-service loan sale advisor, reported a slight drop in loan prices securing commercial mortgage-backed securities (CMBS) in June. According to Boston-based DebtX, the estimated price of whole loans securing CMBS decreased to 90.8 percent from 91.4 percent in May. As of June 29, loan values were an estimated 88.2 percent. The weighted average monthly price of impaired performing loans traded in DebtX's marketplace was 77.4 percent, up from 76.9 percent in May and 76.2 percent in June 2012. At the same time, the weighted average monthly price of nonperforming commercial real estate (CRE) loans traded through DebtX's marketplace was 51.2 percent in June, down from 52.2 percent in May but up from 48.6 percent last year. "CMBS loans ticked down slightly in response to rising Treasury yields, but secondary market loan trades were mixed depending on performance level," said DebtX managing director Will Mercer. "Impaired performing CRE loans priced a bit higher and nonperforming loans priced a bit lower. Overall, prices are generally flattening out and remain range bound." DebtX's Loan Liquidity Index, a monthly barometer of liquidity for pools of loans sold at the company's marketplace, was 96.6, up from 95.8 the prior month and down from 112.3 the prior year. STAT INSIGHT 433 Short sales and deedsin-lieu completed for GSE loans in Massachusetts in the first quarter. Source: Federal Housing Finance Agency Michigan rank: 38 90+ Day Delinquency Rate Foreclosure Rate June 2013 2.3% Unemployment Rate 1.3% 8.7% year ago 2.8% 2.2% 9.3% year-over-year change -18.5% -42.6% -6.5% Top County ST. JoSeph CounTy 90+ Day Delinquency Rate June 2013 3.4% Foreclosure Rate 2.1% year ago 3.0% 3.0% year-over-year change 13.7% -28.6% Top Core-Based Statistical Area STurgiS, Mi 90+ Day Delinquency Rate Foreclosure Rate June 2013 3.4% 2.1% year ago 3.0% 3.0% year-over-year change 13.7% -28.6% note: The 90+ day delinquecy rate is the percentage of outstanding mortgage loans that are seriously delinquent. The foreclosure rate is the percentage of outstanding mortgage loans currently in foreclosure. State rank is based on the June 2013 foreclosure rate. All figures are rounded to the nearest decimal. The unemployment rate reflects preliminary June 2013 figures released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. All other data courtesy of LPS Applied Analytics.

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