Sales of existing single-family homes in Maine decreased slightly in May from a year earlier as a result of limited housing inventory, but prices continued to rise, according to a Maine Listings report issued Wednesday.

Home sales volume decreased by 1.4 percent compared with May 2017, it said, but the statewide median sale price increased by 10 percent to $219,900. The median sale price indicates that half of the homes were sold for more money and half sold for less.

“Statewide, we have 14 percent fewer homes for sale than a year ago, and 32 percent fewer than 2016,” said Kim Gleason, president of the Maine Association of Realtors and broker/owner of McAllister Real Estate in Hallowell. “We’re seeing upward pressure on pricing in those markets due to the limited supply.”

Even though sales figures for May show a slight dip, existing-home sales for January through May are running 1.6 percent above the 2017 pace, which was the strongest year ever for Maine real estate sales, Gleason said.

For the three-month period ending May 31, home sales in Maine were up 1.1 percent from a year earlier, and the median sale price increased by 8.8 percent to $210,000. The biggest year-over-year increase in sales for the three-month period was in Aroostook County, where sales were up 37.2 percent, to 151 sales. The biggest sales decrease for the period was in Sagadahoc County, where sales were down 17.2 percent from a year earlier, to 106 sales.

The biggest median price increase for the three-month period also was in Aroostook County, where the median price increased by 27 percent from a year earlier to $92,000. The biggest median price decrease for the period was in Hancock County, falling 4.8 percent from the same three-month period in 2017.

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Nationally, home sales dipped by 3 percent in May compared with a year earlier, and the national median sale price increased by 5.2 percent to $267,500, according to the National Association of Realtors.

Regionally, sales in the Northeast decreased by 11.7 percent from May 2017, and the median sale price dipped by 1.8 percent to $275,900, it said.

J. Craig Anderson can be contacted at 791-6390 or at:

canderson@pressherald.com

Twitter: @jcraiganderson


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