After a huge jump in October, Maine home sales fell almost 10 percent in November compared with a year earlier, according to a Maine Association of Realtors report issued Monday.

The reasons for the 9.9 percent drop in sales were unclear, but could have included pre-election jitters and weather events in some markets, said the association’s president, Angelia Levesque.

November’s drop-off was a major change from October, in which home sales were up 26 percent compared with a year earlier. Levesque, a broker with Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate/The Masiello Group in Bangor, said wild swings in home sales activity are not unusual in Maine, although she wasn’t sure why.

“I’ve never been able to put my finger on it,” she said.

In November, typically a slow month for Maine’s housing market, 979 homes were sold, compared with 1,086 homes sold in November 2013, according to the report.

The median sale price of a home fell 1.4 percent to $172,500 in November compared with a year earlier, it said. The median indicates that half of the homes were sold for more and half sold for less. In October, the median sale price was $175,000, a decrease of 0.7 percent compared with a year earlier.

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Maine’s nearly double-digit decline in home sales bucked the national trend, according to the association. Nationally, home sales increased 2.4 percent in November compared with a year earlier, and the median sale price increased 5.6 percent to $206,200.

Levesque said homebuyers in November may have taken “a little breather” in Maine, where home sales had increased every month since February 2013, often by double-digit percentages.

Despite November’s one-month drop, home sales over the three-month period from Sept. 1 to Nov. 30 were up 8.4 percent compared with the same period in 2013, the report said.

Statewide, 3,945 homes were sold during the three months ending Nov. 30, compared with 3,639 homes sold during the same period a year earlier, it said.

The county with the biggest jump in home sales for the three months was Sagadahoc County, in which 108 homes were sold, compared with 81 homes sold during the same period of 2013, an increase of 33.3 percent.

The county in which home sales fell the furthest was Penobscot County, where the number of homes sold fell to 316 from 357 during the period from Sept. 1 to Nov. 30, 2013, a decrease of 11.5 percent.

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In Cumberland County, 998 homes were sold during the three months ending Nov. 30, a 12.5 percent increase from the 887 homes sold during the same period a year earlier.

Levesque said prospective buyers in Maine may have opted to wait for the November election results before deciding whether it was safe to go ahead and invest in a home.

“I don’t know if they were holding their breath to see how the election came out,” she said.

 


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