Here's an excerpt from the Fed report: Sales of single-family homes and condominiums increased in New England in January, with most reports indicating low to moderate growth in sales compared to a year ago. Contacts say recent sales growth reflects market activity more accurately than in previous reports, when year-over-year increases were distorted by the expiration of the tax credit in mid-2010. Meanwhile, the median sale price of homes in First District markets declined compared to a year ago, which contacts attribute to distressed property sales. Concerns surrounding the impact of labor market Continue reading >>>

By Globe Staff Scituate's "bustling harbor" earned the town a spot on the “Best Places to Live” in Boston magazine's March issue. Scituate was included in a group of 14 Greater Boston communities that aren't especially well-known and don't typically makes these types of lists, the magazine said. According to the magazine, “A wave of development on Scituate Harbor, including retail, office, and condo projects, has suddenly energized the waterfront. In 2009 three local families reopened the 29-room Inn at Scituate Harbor, and its Dogwatch bar attracts weekend crowds.” The median home Continue reading >>>

As the Bay State makes its way out of the housing slump, developments are starting to take shape everywhere. Gone are the days of sprawling “McMansions” — now developers are focusing on transit-oriented developments. Driving the trend toward such developments is frustration with traffic congestion and a growing desire for more walkable, energy-efficient lifestyles. “With rising gas prices, people are realizing that affordability is not just about housing, but about being close to work and shopping. There is a huge unmet market out there for homes that are not too large, easy to maintain, Continue reading >>>

FORT MYERS, Fla. - New England Baby Boomers know what I’m talking about. The photo was always there. Go into a home, or even an establishment of commerce, and there would be an image of John F. Kennedy somewhere on the wall. Sometimes JFK would be flanked by Pope John XXIII or perhaps Richard Cardinal Cushing. It was a universal truth in the world in which I was raised. Now we have something new. Something from the world of sports. Something from the Biblical baseball season that forever will be the greatest sports story ever Continue reading >>>

One of Boston’s leading Jewish charities assailed yesterday a full-page ad in The New York Times that urged readers to ask why the organization is “funding bigotry and anti-Israel extremism’’ by two left-leaning groups. Harvard law professor Alan Dershowitz also castigated the ad by the Emergency Committee for Israel, which he said quoted him without approval and distorted the funding role of Combined Jewish Philanthropies of Greater Boston. The Emergency Committee for Israel, a critic of President Obama’s policy in that Continue reading >>>

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Thursday, March 1, 2012, 10:39am By Jim Cronin Banker Tradesman Staff Writer   The dollar value of all Greater Boston commercial construction activity in January fell by more than $100 million compared to the same period last year, according to the McGraw-Hill Cos.But residential construction in the Greater Boston area - which McGraw-Hill identifies as one- and two-family homes and apartment buildings Continue reading >>>

SUNDAY: Vivian Gornick (“Emma Goldman: Revolution as a Way of Life”) reads at 3 p.m. for Thoreau Farm Forum at Concord Academy Chapel, 166 Main Street, Concord … Heather Cox Richardson (“Wounded Knee”) speaks at 4 p.m. at Paul Pratt Memorial Library, 35 Ripley Road, Cohasset (for tickets call 781-383-1348) MONDAY: Abby Stokes (“Is This Thing On?" A Computer Hand Book for Late Bloomers, Technophobes, and the Kicking Screaming”) reads at 6 p.m. at the Boston Public Library, Copley Square … Linda Gray Sexton (“Half in Love: Surviving the Legacy of Suicide”) reads at 7 p.m. at Continue reading >>>

By Craig Forde, Globe Correspondent The Medford boys’ hockey team advanced to the Division 1 North quarterfinals for the first time in three years after taking out Greater Boston League foe Everett, 3-0, in a first round matchup on Wednesday night at Stoneham Arena. The fourteenth-seeded Mustangs (9-12-0) earned their tournament berth by winning the GBL title with a 6-0 league record that included two wins over the Crimson Tide in the regular season. “They say you don’t want to play a team three teams,” said Medford head coach Steve DeBenedicitis. “But the way the draw is and with Continue reading >>>

Congressman Edward J. Markey, D-7th, urged the United States Postal Service (USPS) to keep the Northwest Boston Area Mail Processing Center in Waltham open and to hold off any decisions to consolidate the plant, after the postal service announced plans to close it. Last week, the USPS announced that they would be moving mail-processing operations at the Waltham location to the Boston Processing and Distribution Center and the Middlesex-Essex Processing and Distribution Center in North Reading. Markey said Congress is working on comprehensive postal legislation, and the USPS should hold off Continue reading >>>