Local real estate market reeling

The Boston-based publisher of real estate information reported that the median sale price for a single-family home fell 11.6 percent from $345,000 in 2007 to $305,000 in 2008, a five-year low.

The numbers get more stark if one compares the median price of homes that sold in December of 2007 - $325,000 - to the median of those that sold in December of 2008 - $267,250, dropping 17.8 percent.

Bay State home prices are now 14 percent lower than their 2005 peak.