August real estate data shows some hope for Mass. homebuyers

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It’s Monday again. May I offer you a baby turtle in this trying time?

Now, let’s get to the news:

Good news for homebuyers? Data released this morning by the Massachusetts Realtors Association shows a glimmer of hope for those hoping to buy a home in the state’s particularly pricey housing market. For the second month in a row, the association’s “housing affordability index” for both single-family homes and condos went up. Amy Wallick, the president of the association, told WBUR’s Dan Guzman it’s “a positive trend for both buyers and sellers alike.”

• What’s the affordability index? Wallick says the measure looks at the median home sale price, mortgage rates and local average salaries to determine how affordable it is to become a homeowner in the current market. The higher the number, the more affordable it is to own a home.
• What’s causing the trend? Over the last two months, Wallick said there’s been a “slight” decrease in the median sale price for a home in Massachusetts. (For single-family homes, it was $650,000 last month.) Plus, mortgage rates have come down a bit, too. “Those are two big driving factors,” Wallick said, adding that there are also more homes for sale compared to last year.
• Looking ahead: According to Wallick, the real estate business slows down in the summer, as many people get preoccupied with vacations. But autumn usually brings an uptick in new listings. “Now that we’re coming into the fall, we’re already starting to see some more inventory,” said Wallick. She’s hoping to see data that supports a pickup in market activity by the end of the month.

Another looming strike? Nurses at the Faulkner Hospital in Boston’s Jamaica Plain are threatening a one-day strike in the near future, as they bargain for a new contract. The Massachusetts Nurses Association says they’ll give the state a required 10-day notice for a potential strike today. (An official strike date is still TBD.)

• Faulkner’s 500 unionized nurses say they want wage parity with nurses at other Mass General Brigham system hospitals, like Brigham and Women’s, which ratified a new contract this week.
• However, a Mass General Brigham spokesperson defended the relatively lower wages paid to Faulkner nurses, saying it’s because of lower reimbursements from insurance carriers and less specialized care offerings compared to other hospitals. “If a strike does take place, we are positioned to provide the care our patients expect,” the hospital spokesperson said.

The Worcester County District Attorney’s office says it is reviewing the death of 25-year-old Enrique Delgado-Garcia, a police recruit who became unresponsive during a defensive tactics training exercise at the academy in New Braintree on Thursday.

• Delgado-Garcia’s mother told reporters that he was hit and injured during the exercise, raising questions about why the training was “so rough.” His death comes less than a month before Delgado-Garcia was supposed to graduate with his class on Oct. 9.

Can you believe it? After 42 years and more than 6,500 games, Red Sox broadcaster Joe Castiglione announced Sunday that he will be retiring from the booth at the end of this season. “While I feel I am at the pinnacle of my career, it’s time to spend more time with Jan, my bride of almost 53 years, my kids, and grandkids,” the 77-year-old said in a statement, after announcing his decision on air during Sunday’s game against the New York Yankees. Castiglione was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame earlier this summer.

• The Red Sox will pay tribute to Castiglione’s career before their final regular season game on Sept. 29. He also plans to continue to make occasional fill-in appearances in the WEEI booth.

P.S. — This upcoming Thursday, WBUR will be holding a community listening session in Lowell. Whether you’re a parent, teacher, student, school administrator or just a local resident invested in education and the state of public schools, we’d love to hear directly from you. Come and tell us about both the challenges or bright spots with the local K-12 education system. Get the details on attending here.

This article was originally published on WBUR.org.