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Updated: July 8, 2019 Biz Money

Seller’s market continues for single-family homes

By Staff

The single-family existing home market in Maine remains strong as the summer sales season gets underway.

Brokers reported selling 6.32% more homes in May compared to May 2018, from 1,503 in 2018 to 1,598 this year, according to a the Maine Listing Service, the Maine Association of Realtors reported recently. The median sale price is up 4.59%, to $230,000, compared to $219,900 in May 2018.

“May was a strong month for residential real estate sales in Maine and, after a slow start to 2019, we’re pulling even to 2018 levels,” Peter Harrington, president of the Maine Association of Realtors, said in a news release. “Sustained job security and low unemployment rates, healthy consumer finances, and lower mortgage interest rates have fueled real estate markets across Maine.”

The sales trend bucks the national one, in which prices were down 0.8%, according to the National Association of Realtors. National prices were similar to Maine, with a 4.6% increase. The national median price is $280,000, while the Northeast price is $304,100, up 6.6%. Sales were up 4.7%.

The biggest increase in the state for the rolling quarter, which includes March, April and May, was in Waldo County, where sales were up 50.72% — 104 single-family homes were sold for the quarter this year, as opposed to 69 last year.

Piscataquis County, which had strong sales throughout 2018, continued the trend with a 20.97% increase, with 75 homes sold, up from 62 a year earlier. Hancock County followed closely behind, with a 20.25% increase — 196 homes sold for the quarter this year, as opposed to 163 last year.

Six of Maine’s 16 counties had decreases in home sales, with the biggest drop in Aroostook County, where 129 homes were sold during the quarter, down from 151 last year, a 14.57% drop.

The biggest rise in median price in the state for the rolling quarter was in Hancock County, where the median price is $235,320, up 25.50% over last year’s $187,500. Neighboring Washington County followed close behind, with a 21.46% increase, from $106,000 to $128,750.

The biggest decrease was in Piscataquis County, where the median price was $104,000 for the quarter, down from $120,750 in the comparable period last year.

The highest median price in the state is in Cumberland County, which includes the greater Portland metropolitan area. The median was $319,900, up 3.19% from last year’s $310,000. York County, which, with Cumberland, accounts for more than a third of the state’s population, had a median home price of $289,000, a 1.4% increase over last year’s $285,000.

The lowest median was in Aroostook County, in northern Maine, at $99,900 a 8.59% increase over last year’s $92,000.

“For-sale inventory continues to be at historically low levels with pent-up buyer demand in the marketplace,” said Harrington, who is also a broker for Malone Commercial Brokers. “Sellers are listing when they have their next move in place, and buyers are reacting quickly. Statewide, the ‘days on market’ for the first five months of 2019 is 47 days, down 8% from the same time period during 2018. Activity has certainly bumped up over the past quarter.”

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