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Have we hit bottom?
Latest Portland real estate sales data mixed
by Lou Demers
Broker, RealtorŌ
Maine Coast Properties
207-807-5999 (cell)
lou@mainecoastproperties.biz (email)
Portland, ME, July 21, 2008 – The most recent information from the Maine Real Estate Information System (MREIS) delivers both bad and good news for the Portland real estate market. The assumption, of course, is that “good news” means prices are either holding steady or appreciating and “bad news” means that home values are depreciating. In the latest analysis for the second quarter of this year, we get both. However, our real estate market appears to (so far) be weathering the nationwide “storm” better than many areas of the country—and there are preliminary signs that we may now be in the bottom of our down cycle.
A total of 124 single-family homes sold in Portland in the months of April, May and June of this year. This represents a decrease of 2.36% in single-family sales volume compared to the same quarter of 2007. However, single-family sales were up more than 63% from the first quarter of this year, an increase that can be attributed mostly to warmer weather. When looking at the month of June, alone, 60 single families sold—an increase of over 62% from the month of May and an increase of 50% in volume compared to June of last year. The trend for single-family volume is up.
The median sales price for a single-family home in the second quarter of this year was $233,300, down 8.23% percent from the same quarter in 2007, but up 1.95% from the previous quarter. Again, isolating the month of June of this year, the median sales price for single families jumped more than three percent from the previous month and was down only about four percent compared to the same month last year. This means that the bulk of depreciation in the quarterly statistics came in the months of April and May of this year. We’ll have to wait for July’s numbers to learn if values for single families are truly in recovery mode.
Surprisingly, condominiums outperformed single families with gains in both volume and value in the second quarter. Seventy-two condos sold in the second quarter of this year. That’s an increase of 1.41% compared to the second quarter of 2007 and an increase of 22.03% compared to the first quarter of 2008. Quarterly condo values were also on the rise. The median sales price for a Portland condominium in the second quarter of this year was $209,300—that’s an increase of 6.20% from the first quarter of this year and a mere 0.18% rise from the same quarter of 2007, but an increase nonetheless.
Also of interesting note is the drop in “days on market” (DOM) for both single families and condos in the month of June. The average time it took for a single family to go under contract in June was 51 days—a fall of 31.08% from May and a decrease of almost six percent from June 2007. The June DOM for condos was 71 days, down nearly 45% from May and a decrease of more than 15% from the same month in 2007. Simply put, properties are selling faster than they were last year. Could this be a bellwether of things to come? Rest assured, I’ll let you know what next month’s numbers bring.
Disclaimer: Based on information from the Maine Real Estate Information System, Inc. Provided by Lou Demers, an individual user of MREIS. MREIS and Maine Coast Properties have not reviewed the contents and do not make any representations, warranties or guarantees regarding the accuracy, timeliness or completeness of any statistical information and data provided.
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