Severe February Weather Slows Mass. Home Sales

The brutal weather in February didn't just fray nerves and make driving dangerous, it also sent sales of single-family homes in Massachusetts plummeting.

Two organizations that track the real estate market announced Tuesday that in addition to reduced sales, the median price went down in February compared to the year-ago month.

The Warren Group said sales were down nearly 16 percent compared with February 2010. The 1,746 sales was the lowest for the month since the organization began tracking the market in 1987. The median price fell to $255,000 from $270,000 the previous February.

The Massachusetts Association of Realtors reports a 12.5 percent decrease year-over-year sales, and a slight drop in the median price to $270,000 from nearly $272,000.

The two groups use slightly different numbers in their calculations.