By: Sarah Shemkus
sshemkus@capecodonline.com
December 23, 2009

Home sales surged but unemployment remained high throughout southeastern Massachusetts last month, according to two sets of numbers released yesterday.

In Barnstable County, 284 single-family homes were sold last month, 62 percent higher than the November 2008 total of 175 sales, according to a report from Boston-based real estate data firm The Warren Group.

Bristol County saw a 41 percent jump in sales of single-family homes — from 230 to 324 — over the same period. In Plymouth County, there were 377 single-family home sales last month, up 39 percent from November 2008, when 272 such sales were completed.

These strong numbers are due, at least in part, to particularly weak sales in November 2008. In that month, ripple effects from the September 2008 stock market crash made their way into the real estate market, causing sale volume to plummet more than 18 percent statewide.

But Hyannis real estate agent Matthew Weider said the numbers also represent a genuinely strengthening housing market.

"People are perceiving the market as having bottomed out in terms of where prices are going," said Weider, president of Century 21 Shoreland. "We are seeing increases in first-time homebuyers as well as the second-homebuyer market."

In fact, he said, his company is having its best quarter in three years.
The median price of a single-family home in Barnstable County edged up last month, as compared to November 2008, rising from $315,000 to $320,00.

In Bristol and Plymouth Counties, the midpoint values dropped slightly over the same period. Bristol's median fell from $251,000 to $240,000; Plymouth's median went from $260,450 to $256,000.

"We're taking a wait-and-see approach," Weider said, "but we're certainly liking the idea that the market seems to be stabilizing."
But while optimism may be creeping back into the real estate market, the jobs situation remained bleak in November.

On Cape Cod, 10,987 people were jobless last month, for an unemployment rate of 9.5 percent, up from 8 percent in October. In November 2008, the jobless rate was 7 percent.

"You would expect from October to November to see our largest increase," said David Augustinho, executive director of the Cape and Islands Workforce Investment Board. "It's our normal seasonality kicking in."

In the less seasonal economies of Bristol and Plymouth Counties, the jobless numbers were more stable.

In Bristol County, the unemployment rate last month was 10.8 percent, down slightly from October, when it hit 11 percent. In November 2008, the jobless rate in the area was 7.4 percent.

Plymouth County's unemployment level fell from 8.8 percent in October to 8.7 percent last month; in November 2008, the rate was 6.1 percent.

However, while hints of possible economic recovery are starting to appear, unemployment is likely to remain high for some time yet, Augustinho said.

"It's very difficult to get back into the job market," he said. "Things are positive for much of the business community but it's going to take quite a while until they are hiring at levels anything like before this recession."