MAINE HOME SALES UP 8.6 PERCENT IN JANUARY

SOUTH PORTLAND (February 23, 2015)—Maine real estate sales continued to climb in January, fueled by second-home buyers and those not deterred by the weather. Maine Listings released monthly statistics today, which show that sales of Maine’s single-family existing homes jumped 8.60 percent last month. The median sales price (MSP) for those sales dipped 3.9 percent to $160,000. The MSP indicates that half of the homes were sold for more and half sold for less.

The National Association of Realtors reported a nationwide sales increase of 3.9 percent in January, while prices rose 6.3 percent to a national MSP of $199,800. Regionally, sales in the Northeast were up 3.3 percent and the regional MSP increased 2.7 percent to $247,800.

Marie Flaherty, 2015 President of the Maine Association of Realtors, said, “The January sales data is further proof of a stabilizing real estate market in Maine.” Flaherty, a Realtor with Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Northeast Real Estate in Westbrook, added that even though temperatures were quite low, “The weather appears to be having less of an impact on home buyers decisions this year.” She also pointed out that nine of ten homebuyers search the Internet at some point in their home search process, with mainelistings.com and realtor.com having the most comprehensive, accurate information for online research.

Below are two charts showing statistics for Maine and its 16 counties. The first chart lists statistics for the month of January only, statewide. The second chart compares the number of existing, single-family homes sold (units) and volume (MSP) during the “rolling quarter” the months of November 1, 2013 to January 31, 2014 and November 1, 2014 to January 31, 2015.