The Warren Group reports single-family home sales were down last year in Boston by almost 15 percent. The median price decreased by more than 11%. The largest decreases in sales were in Brighton, South Boston and West Roxbury. The largest price drops were in Mattapan, at almost 31 percent, and East Boston, at more then 26 percent.

For condos in Boston, the number of sales was down by almost 20 percent, but the median price was up by more than 4 percent. The neighborhoods with the largest fall-off in condo sales were Brighton, Mattapan, East Boston and Hyde Park, all more than 30 percent. The largest price drops were in Mattapan, at almost 55 percent, and Dorchester, almost 18 percent. The largest increase in the price of a condo was in Roxbury, at more than 10 percent.

Besides having the largest price drops for all of 2008, Mattapan - among comparisons of more than a handful of transactions - had the largest price drop in December for condos (70.37 percent). The decreases in December condo sales were almost as high in West Roxbury (61.54 percent) and Charlestown (60 percent), but the decreases in median price were less than 10 percent. In East Boston's condo market for December, the number of sales was down 46 percent, while the median price was down more than 30 percent.

Neighborhoods where the 2008 median price increased (for single-family homes) were Jamaica Plain, Brighton, Roslindale, and South Boston. There were price increases for condos in Jamaica Plain, West Roxbury, and areas close to downtown Boston, though the numbers of sales in those areas were all lower. The number of condos sold in Dorchester increased in December, compared with the same month in 2007, but the median price declined by 61.44 percent. The largest increase in condos sales for December was in Roxbury - more than doubling, from 13 to 27 - but was price was down slightly, by 1.22 percent.