Single-family home sales and median prices both turned for the better in May, the Buffalo Niagara Association of Realtors reported Monday.

Completed transactions reached 906, which is 3.3 percent better than 877 a year ago though still the second-lowest amount for May in this decade. The sales total was also 21.2 percent better than 747 in April. For the first five months of 2009, closed sales are off 11.3 percent at 3,124 from 3,525 last year.

Median prices climbed to a peak of $110,000 for the calendar month, up 4.3 percent from $105,500 a year ago. Average prices were down 1 percent to $124,640 from $126,179. Total dollar volume for May was $112.94 million, a 2 percent gain from $110.66 million last year.

BNAR also said that new listings were up 6 percent in the past year to 1,672 from 1,570 while active listings declined 6 percent to 5,339 from 5,680.

The overall downfall in the housing market is also reflected in a report from Erie County Comptroller Mark Poloncarz. The comptroller said the semi-annual mortgage tax revenue distributed to cities, towns and villages so far this year is down 22.15 percent, or $1.65 million, than a year ago. Payments to the City of Buffalo are down 32.68 percent to $709,393 compared to $1.05 million in June 2008.

Distributions will also be lower in Cheektowaga ($717,302, down 46.9 percent), the Town of Lancaster ($659,231, down 48.5 percent), Town of Orchard Park ($427,542, down 34.5 percent), Clarence ($523,811, down 15.1 percent) and Amherst ($1.18 million, down 6.4 percent).

The report said only eight municipalities — Akron, Boston, Collins, Eden, Elma, Gowanda, Grand Island and Newstead — would receive increases in mortgage tax receipts.

© 2009 American City Business Journals, Inc.