R.I. single-family home sales drop in third quarter

SINGLE-FAMILY HOME SALES in Rhode Island dropped 1.9 percent in the third quarter, the Rhode Island Association of Realtors said Wednesday.
SINGLE-FAMILY HOME SALES in Rhode Island dropped 1.9 percent in the third quarter, the Rhode Island Association of Realtors said Wednesday.

WARWICK – Single-family home sales dropped 1.9 percent in the third quarter, the Rhode Island Association of Realtors said on Wednesday.
Fifty-two fewer homes sold from July through September compared with the third quarter of 2013. Median price also declined $3,000, or 1.4 percent, to $215,000.
Warwick led the state with the most single-family home sales with 323 transactions.
Foster, with an increase of 58 percent, had the largest percentage gain in the number of sales and the biggest increase in median price with a rise of 79 percent.
The association said that median price does not reflect a rise in the value of specific homes, but does indicate a shift in the type and price of homes selling in a particular market.
For example, it said a lower median price generally assumes a predominance of distressed or lower priced, first-time homebuyer sales, while a higher median price indicates movement in the higher priced move-up sector.
“Rhode Island’s housing market held its own in the third quarter, and we’re seeing a number of positive signs for continued housing recovery. Interest rates reached an annual low last week and there were some significant advances made in loosening the onerous restrictions in lending resulting from the financial crisis,” Robert Martin, 2014 president of the Rhode Island Association of Realtors, said in a statement.
Martin alluded to a decision announced by financial regulators last week to ease lending requirements stemming from the 2010 banking reform bill enacted after the financial crisis.
Part of the new Qualified Residential Mortgage rule includes elimination of the 20 and 30 percent down payment requirements included in earlier versions of the rule, which should open up options for otherwise creditworthy homebuyers currently shut out of the market, the association said in a press release.
Rhode Island’s condominium market had a 14 percent drop in sales in the third quarter with the median sales price basically unchanged at $199,900, $450 more than in the prior year. Though activity in the investor-driven multifamily market slowed 7 percent, the median price rose to $155,000, an 11 percent increase.
The Rhode Island Association of Realtors said there was a strong surge in single-family home sales at the end of the quarter. September showed a 10 percent gain in home sales after seven months of declining sales activity compared with the prior-year period. Pending sales, those under contract, also rose in August and September, after dropping year-to-year since August 2013.
There was a six-month supply of single-family homes for sale at the end of the third quarter, considered by industry experts to be a market balanced between supply and demand. The condominium and multifamily markets tipped in favor of buyers with a seven-month supply of inventory, the association said.
“The stock market may be fluctuating but Rhode Island’s housing market now seems to be cemented in stability. As investment options go, housing is once again showing itself as a great long-term investment,” Martin said.

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