Following last year’s record performance, Maine home sales have started off 2017 slightly behind 2016. Through the first 2 months of the new year, single family home sales are down 3% statewide. To keep this in perspective, however, Jan and Feb of 2016 set all time sales records by almost 20%.
In Cumberland and York Counties, sales cooled off a bit more, with both areas down 6% year-to-date.
Yet pricing continues to tend upwards. The YTD price of $185,000 is 9% ahead of 2016. Locally (the greater Portland area) pricing continues to be even stronger, reaching an MSP (median selling price) of $268,000 in Cumberland County and $240,000 in York County.
As illustrated in the graph below, you can see there are wide fluctuations by community – often reflecting the mix of properties sold in any given month and the amount of inventory available.
Speaking of inventory, the number of homes available for sale continues to be low. In Cumberland County the number of days to sell a property stands at 45 – an 18% reduction from a year ago. The number of homes currently pending versus existing inventory is 54% – which is unusually high. In some communities, like Portland for example, this statistic is almost 70% – resulting in competition among buyers for those homes currently for sale.
Across the country, inventory levels have dropped for the 20th consecutive month vs the prior year.
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About the Author: Michael
