Sales of single-family homes rose nearly 12 percent in December, and jumped 17 percent for the full year thanks in part to low interest rates, reasonable selling prices and shrinking inventory on the market.
Sales totaled 888 homes statewide in December, up from 794 homes a year ago, according the Maine Real Estate Information System. The median sale price rose 6.25 percent to $170,000.
Additional Photos
For the full year of 2012, realtors sold 11,512 homes across the state, up 17 percent over 2011.
“Many buyers have been sitting on the sideline waiting for just the ‘right’ time to begin the home buying process, and 2012 seemed to offer the right alignments,” said Bart Stevens, president of the Maine Association of Realtors. “Declining inventory coupled with historically low interest rates and reasonable home prices made for an attractive time to jump into the market.”
Realtors saw a steady stream of first-time homebuyers and a significant numbersof people moving up in the market with bigger homes, Stevens said.
Send questions/comments to the editors.
Success. Please wait for the page to reload. If the page does not reload within 5 seconds, please refresh the page.
Enter your email and password to access comments.
Hi, to comment on stories you must . This profile is in addition to your subscription and website login.
Already have a commenting profile? .
Invalid username/password.
Please check your email to confirm and complete your registration.
Only subscribers are eligible to post comments. Please subscribe or login first for digital access. Here’s why.
Use the form below to reset your password. When you've submitted your account email, we will send an email with a reset code.