The real estate market on the Vineyard has swung strongly in favor of buyers, as record stocks of unsold properties force agents and owners to begin to heavily discount prices.

Figures for the first quarter of this year showed the total inventory of residential property up more than 40 per cent over the same period a year ago.

The median sale price also continued a decline which began last year. For the March quarter this year it was $688,750, compared with $705,000 in the same quarter last year and $702,000 at the end of last year.

The real estate market on the Vineyard had already begun to see a sharp downturn this year, and the recent collapse in global financial markets and turmoil on Wall Street certainly has not made things better.

Statistical evidence gathered from Banker and Tradesman online, which compiles real estate figures from sale documents, shows the Dukes County housing market is off sharply from last year, with sales down almost 15 per cent and prices off by more than nine per cent.

Despite the claimed end of the recession, the number of foreclosure proceedings on the Vineyard appears to be increasing, along with unemployment.

Analysis of the space taken up by foreclosure-related advertising in the Gazette shows that it took up more than twice the column inches in the December quarter of 2009, compared with the same period in 2008.

And Chris Wells, president of the Martha’s Vineyard Savings Bank, said this week he believed unemployment on the Island could be as high as 50 per cent over the next couple of months.

Amid mixed reports about whether the recession is easing its grip on the nation, the Vineyard economy remains in decline and has yet to hit bottom, merchants, tradesmen and bankers said this week.

Unemployment on the Island is still high — especially among contractors — while many businesses ended the calendar year with sluggish sales and little hope for a better spring or summer. In Edgartown alone at least 10 retail stores have closed their doors for good this winter, and some observers put the number closer to 20.

The good news for the Vineyard economy is that in the first three months of this year banks loaned some $240 million for new mortgages, well above the numbers for the previous two recession years.

Even better, said Chris Wells, president and chief executive officer of the Martha’s Vineyard Savings Bank, most of that was for new purchases rather than refinancing of existing loans, the biggest part of the mortgage business during the downturn.