Sales of existing single-family homes in Maine remained relatively flat in July compared with a year earlier, while the median sale price increased by about 2 percent.
A report issued Wednesday by Maine Listings said July home sales volume was up by 0.2 percent from a year earlier, while the median sale price increased by 2.2 percent to $230,000. The median indicates that half of homes sold for more money and half sold for less.
“For-sale inventory has crept up slightly, though competition for entry-level homes remains high,” Peter Harrington, president of the Maine Association of Realtors and broker/partner with Malone Commercial Brokers in Portland, said in the report. “With increasing for-sale inventory levels and very affordable mortgage interest rates, we expect markets to remain steady.”
For the three-month period ending July 31, Maine home sales volume was up by 0.8 percent from the same period of 2018, while the median sale price increased by 4.2 percent to $234,450, the report said.
The biggest sales volume increase for the three-month period compared with a year earlier was 20.1 percent in Hancock County, while the biggest decrease was 20.8 percent in Sagadahoc County, it said.
The biggest median sale price increase for the three-month period was 44.4 percent in Piscataquis County, where the median price rose to $143,000. The only county in Maine that experienced a median price decrease was Knox County, where the median fell 7.6 percent to $230,000, the report said.
“Sales volume has been up-and-down over the first seven months of 2019 and is running only 1.6 percent below the comparable time period for 2018, Maine’s record-breaking year,” Harrington said.
Nationally, home sales increased by 1 percent in July compared with a year earlier, while the median home sale price rose by 4.5 percent to $284,000, according to the National Association of Realtors.
In the Northeast region, sales dipped by 4.3 percent in July from a year earlier, and the median home sale price fell by 1 percent to $305,800, it said.
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