R.I. home sales rise 5% in 1Q

BRUCE LANE, Rhode Island Association of Realtors president, said despite near record snowfall, single-family home sales rose 5 percent year over year in the first quarter.
BRUCE LANE, Rhode Island Association of Realtors president, said despite near record snowfall, single-family home sales rose 5 percent year over year in the first quarter.

WARWICK – Single-family home sales rose 5 percent year over year in the first quarter, despite near record-breaking snowfall, according to the Rhode Island Association of Realtors.
A total of 1,639 single-family homes were sold in the first quarter, 81 more than in the first quarter of 2014. Of the 1,639 single-family homes sold, 304 were distressed.

Warwick had the most sales with 205 in the first quarter, followed by Cranston at 129, Coventry with 90 and Providence at 83.
The median sales price also increased 4 percent to $202,500. The association said this is the first year that the first quarter median price of single-family homes has topped $200,000 since 2008.
The association also said that the number of foreclosures and short sales fell 16 percent as the market has strengthened.
Block Island, with six sales within the first three months of the year, had the highest median sales price at $1.2 million, which is 2 percent higher than last year. East Greenwich experienced the strongest price appreciation with a 52 percent increase to $527,500.
Multi-family home sales increased 18 percent in the first quarter, while the median price rose 10 percent to $153,000.

Newport’s multi-family market saw the highest median price at $423,500, an 8 percent increase from the prior year.

The association reported that only the condominium market struggled in the first quarter, as the number of sales dropped 6 percent and the median price of condominiums sold from January through March fell to $190,000, from $195,000 during the year-ago period. The association blamed “strict financing rules” that are preventing buyers from closing deals.
“Despite the rough winter, Rhode Island’s housing market continued to bounce back for the most part. Sales and prices should only get stronger as our job market improves,” Bruce Lane, Rhode Island Association of Realtors president, said in a statement.

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Lane criticized Gov. Gina M. Raimondo’s proposal to tax vacation homes worth more than $1 million, a plan dubbed the “Taylor Swift tax.”
“The one thing that could affect Rhode Island’s housing recovery however, is the passage of new taxes proposed in the 2016 state budget. The statewide tax on non-owner occupied homes included in the budget could be expanded or altered at any time and make it more difficult for each and every one of us to afford a home, and the tax on short-term private home rentals is the last thing we need if we want to encourage homeownership and tourism. Those are two of our most significant economic drivers,” Lane said.

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