Fewer existing homes sold in York County between March 1 and May 31, but the median price during the same time period was up from 2021 by more than 18 percent.

With interest rates on the rise, what the sales figures will look like in the next quarter is a wait and see.

“The market is changing and is changing quickly for a couple of reasons,” said Debbi Bozman, president of the York County Council of the Maine Association of Realtors. “Real estate (has) a lot to do with the economic position of the country and because interest rates are rising, that limits our buyers’ purchasing power because (it) puts a cap on what they can afford.”

She said buyers are not as willing to go above the list price of a home as they have previously been.

Bozman, of Keller Williams Coastal and Lakes & Mountains Realty in Wells, said in a telephone interview that she sees the situation as stabilizing. “It is the start of the change from a seller’s market to an equalized market,”  she said, and later, perhaps a buyer’s market.

The U.S. Federal Reserve increased its key interest rate by three-quarters of a percent earlier in June — the largest bump since 1994, according to The Associated Press, just a couple of days after figures released showed inflation at 8.6 percent — a four decade high, in May. The Fed raised interest rates by a quarter of a percent in March and half a percent in May.

Madeleine Hill, president of the Maine Association of Realtors, said there were small gains statewide in the number of existing home sales in the quarter. She attributed some of the gain to typical spring sales increases.

“We’re also seeing home buying demand impacted by rising mortgage interest rates and home price appreciation,” Hill said. “As sellers and buyers adjust, time will tell if we are transitioning to a more balanced market with slower price growth and less buyer competition for for-sale inventory,” said Hill, of Roxanne York Real Estate in Harpswell, in a news release.

Bozman on Friday said she has seen interest rates at around 5.78 for a 30-year fixed rate. As well, she said she has seen somewhat lower rates from credit unions that keep mortgages in-house — as of Friday, June 24, interest rates were around 5.2 percent in some locales, for a 30-year fixed rate, depending on the buyer’s down payment.

The Maine Association of Realtors reported 582 existing homes sold in York County from March 1 to May 31 this year, down from 681 in 2021, or 14.54 percent fewer sales.

The median price was $445,000 for the March 1 to May 31 period, up from $375,000 or by 18.67 percent than in the same time period in 2021. The median sale price indicates that half of the homes were sold for more and half sold for less, according to the MAR.

Statewide, from May 1 to 31, 1,420 existing homes were sold, 11.97 percent fewer than the 1,613 sold during the same period in 2021. The median price statewide for the month was $350,000, up from $305,000 in May 0f 2021, or by 14.745 percent.

Comments are not available on this story.