R.I. home sales dip again

Rhode Island single-family home sales in November fell 18.7 percent compared with November 2006, according to a report released last week by The Warren Group.
That drop – to 630 sales, from 775 the year before – continued what has been a downward trend throughout 2007, the real estate data firm said.
Year-to-date sales in the Ocean State are 10.3 percent lower than in the comparable 2006 period, falling to 8,057 from 8,977. That decline is sharper than in either Connecticut, which saw year-to-date sales fall 8.1 percent; or Massachusetts, where sales fell 7.6 percent, The Warren Group noted in its report.
“It looks like Rhode Island’s housing market felt the crunch more than its neighbors in 2007,” CEO Timothy Warren Jr. said in a statement last week. “It may be that the downturn hit Rhode Island earlier, but it is a safe bet that prices won’t start to climb in earnest for any of the three southern New England states until sales pick up.”
The median price of single-family homes in Rhode Island in November fell 8.6 percent compared with a year ago, to $235,000. The year-to-date median price of single-family homes sold statewide stood at $255,000, down 4.9 percent from same period of 2006.
November condominium sales in Rhode Island fell 11.1 percent year-over-year, to 184 units, although their median sales price increased 4.4 percent to $215,000.
For the 11-month period ended Nov. 30, however, condo sales were down 6 percent – to 2,195 from 2,336 in the year-ago period – as the median price per unit fell 1.8 percent to $224,000. ·