Real estate market strong in March, especially for single-family homes

SOME PORTIONS OF THE RESIDENTIAL home market in Rhode Island are starting to show signs of being short on homes for sale, signified by the changing colors on the map that indicate how many months worth of inventory is on the market.. / COURTESY RHODE ISLAND ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS
SOME PORTIONS OF THE RESIDENTIAL home market in Rhode Island are starting to show signs of being short on homes for sale, signified by the changing colors on the map that indicate how many months worth of inventory is on the market.. / COURTESY RHODE ISLAND ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS

PROVIDENCE – Sales of single-family homes continued to pick up in March, growing by 23.2 percent over the previous year, according to the Rhode Island Association of Realtors. Median sale prices also rose, with the median price of a single-family home in Rhode Island increasing 11.6 percent to $230,000, compared with $206,000 in March 2015.
Inventory has declined, however, compared to March 2015, according to Art Yatsko, state president of the Realtors association. As a result, several areas of the state are tipping toward becoming “sellers” markets, where fewer than five months of inventory are available. These areas include the East Side of Providence, portions of Warwick and several communities in northern Rhode Island, according to a “heat map” published by the association.
In the condominium market, March sales rose 9.6 percent over the previous year. The median sale price rose 16.8 percent to $201,500.
The multi-family home market cooled somewhat, with an increase in sales of 1.7 percent reported over March 2015. The median price rose more dramatically, to $175,000, a 10.4 percent increase.
In a statement, Yatsko said the spring market is expected to remain strong, with pending sales showing a 16 percent increase, which should boost activity in April and May.

“We expected sales in March to top last year’ due to the bad weather we had in 2015, but we had far and away more sales than we’ve seen at this time of year for quite some time,” he said, in a news release.

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