The Massachusetts press reacts to the March housing numbers. "Were single family home sales up or down in Massachusetts last month? That depends on who is tracking sales. According to figures released yesterday by The Warren Group of Boston, sales of detached single-family homes in Massachusetts dropped 1.5 percent last month compared with March 2005."

"The Massachusetts Association of Realtors showed single-family home sales up 2 percent over March 2005. Both organizations showed a decline in the median sales prices of single-family homes, though the respective prices differed."

"Warren Group CEO Timothy M. Warren Jr. said his organization’s figures are taken from the sales logged in the county registries of deeds. He downplayed the difference in numbers, saying that they show the same general trends. 'There’s virtually no difference between what they’re showing and what we’re showing,' he said. It was a matter of the decadelong housing boom slowing down."

"'I think it’s the law of gravity,' he said. 'Sales volumes are down after a tremendous run. Home prices have gone up since the middle 1990s every year. What goes up must come down, eventually. It’s a leveling of the market, or what Wall Street calls a correction.'"

"Experts attribute some of the market’s improvement to mild weather in January, when many buyers who closed on homes in March initially went house shopping. 'I think this is kind of an echo effect of the warm January we had, which brought a lot of people out looking at homes,' said John Bitner, chief economist at Boston-based Eastern Bank. 'I think (gains) aren’t as strong as they appear.'"

"For instance, median house-sale prices actually fell last month to $344,000. That’s off 1.7 percent from March 2005 and 8.3 percent from a $375,000 peak recorded in July."

"'Inventory is at record highs, so buyers are taking their time,' said David Wluka, president of the MAR. 'They can pick among several houses so they don't feel the pressure.'"

"The housing market in Massachusetts 'simply isn't as strong as it is in other states,' said (economist) Patrick Newport. 'People are leaving for other states, and there's less demand for housing than there is in the rest of the country,' he said."