Maine’s housing market in January looked much the same as it did at the end of 2024: bittersweet, with both prices and inventory steadily rising.

Maine homebuyers paid a median of $385,000 in January, a 9% increase over the same time last year, according to data released Friday by the Maine Association of Realtors. The median is the price at which half of the homes sold for more and half sold for less.

Meanwhile, 853 houses changed hands last month — a 13% increase over January 2024.

That said, the usually busy Maine market has hit its wintertime slowdown. Month-to-month numbers reflect the opposite trend compared with year-over-year, with both the median sale price and the number of sales decreasing from summer and fall highs. January, February and March are consistently the state’s quietest months for home buying and selling.

Still, Jeff Harris, president of the Maine Association of Realtors, said last month marked one of the strongest starts to a year in almost 30 years, showing that “homebuyers are not deterred by Maine’s winter.”

“Strong January numbers show continued, solid buyer interest statewide,” he said.

Harris also noted that for-sale inventory has also been trending upward, with a 16% increase over January 2024, boding well for buyers who’ve been discouraged by the long-lasting (and still ongoing) inventory squeeze.

Nationally, prices increased about 5% to a median sale price of $402,000, according to the National Association of Realtors. January was the fourth consecutive month to see an increase in the number of sales nationwide — about 2% — after a yearslong slide of decreases.

Regionally, sales in the Northeast were similar, with a 4% increase in sales and an almost 10% increase in prices, with a median of $475,400.

“More housing supply allows strongly qualified buyers to enter the market,” said Lawrence Yun, chief economist for the national association. “But for many consumers, both increased inventory and lower mortgage rates are necessary for them to purchase a different home or become first-time homeowners.”

Mortgage rates have, however, stayed near 7% for several weeks, according to mortgage buyer Freddie Mac. The average rate on a 30-year mortgage was 6.85% as of Thursday.

“Mortgage rates have refused to budge for several months despite multiple rounds of short-term interest rate cuts by the Federal Reserve,” Yun said. “When combined with elevated home prices, housing affordability remains a major challenge.”

The Maine Association of Realtors also looks at three months of data in county-by-county comparisons to get a larger sample size of sale transactions.

The median price increased just shy of 10% to $390,350 between Nov. 1 and Jan. 31 compared to the same three-month span the year before. Sales also increased by just over 11%.

Cumberland County held its spot as Maine’s most expensive county with a median sale price of $555,000. York County was the second-most expensive, with a median sale price of $515,000.

Penobscot County saw the largest overall increase, with a nearly 15% jump from $248,000 to $285,000.

With a median sale price of $159,000 Aroostook County remained the least expensive county in the state, though prices increased more than 14% compared to the same period last year.

Piscataquis County, the only other county with a median price below $200,000, also saw the only price decrease, dropping almost 3% from $175,000 to $170,000.

Sales numbers were less stable statewide, with five counties reporting decreases and 11 reporting increases.

Knox County jumped from 86 sales between November and the end of January last year to 119 over the same period this year, a more than 38% increase.

Piscataquis, the only county to report a price decrease, was also the county with the steepest drop in sales — a roughly 14% decline from 64 to 55.