By Aglaia Pikounis

Here’s a surprising real estate factoid that hasn’t been widely reported: While sales of single-family homes and condos in Massachusetts tumbled in 2008, sales of two- and three-family homes jumped 21.5 percent. 

 A total of 6,830 two- and three-unit properties were sold in 2008, up from 5,622 in 2007, according to The Warren Group. That may sound like an impressive gain, but the numbers pale in comparison to the multifamily sales recorded two to three years earlier. In 2006, nearly 9,000 two- and three-family homes were sold.  And in 2005 there were about 73 percent more such transactions (11,866, to be exact).

 One of the factors pushing multifamily home sales up last year was probably foreclosures. About a quarter of last year’s foreclosures were of two- and three-family homes. Another thing that helped move two- and three-family homes off the market: lower prices. The median price for a three-family home in Massachusetts sunk to $200,000 in 2008, or 44 percent lower than 2007.  Meanwhile the median price for a two-family home was $228,000, down 33 percent from a year earlier. By comparison, the median selling price for a Bay State single-family home fell 11.6 percent in 2008.