BOSTON – Although October single-family home sales in Rhode Island rose 11 percent compared with a year earlier, giving the Ocean State its first double-digit gain in four years, their median price continued its string of double-digit declines, according to data released today by real estate tracker The Warren Group.
Statewide, 653 single-family homes were sold in October, topping the 588 sold in the same month of 2007. That represented a sharp improvement from recent months, for which TWG has recorded year-over-year sales declines in the 17-percent to 26-percent range.
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The median price of Ocean State houses sold in October fell 15.3 percent, however, to $211,000 from $249,000 a year ago, in the fifth consecutive month of greater-than-10-percent price drops.
“Lower prices are helping move properties off the market,” TWG CEO Timothy Warren Jr. said in a statement this morning. “But it’s important to note that the October data reflects home sales that were negotiated three to four months ago – before the stock market collapse and before thousands of job layoffs were announced. The market woes have certainly had an impact on consumer confidence and people’s eagerness to make a major purchase.”
Year-to-date single-family home sales in the state are down 13.6 percent, to 5,709 in the year’s first 10 months from last year’s 6,702. And the year-to-date median price through October is down 12.3 percent, to $235,950 from the year-ago period’s $269,000.
Meanwhile, October condominium sales in Rhode Island dropped 34.5 percent year-over-year, to 114 sales from 174 in the same month a year ago. Year-to-date condo sales are down 33.3 percent, to 1,300 through this October from 1,949 in the first 10 months last year .
The median price of condos sold in October fell 9.3 percent, to $199,900 from the year-ago $220,500. The year-to-date median condo price was down 4.4 percent, to $215,000 through October from the year-ago period’s $225,000.
The Warren Group Inc. is a provider of New England real estate data and the publisher of Banker & Tradesman and other journals. Additional information is available at www.thewarrengroup.com.
