WARWICK – The median prices of single-family and multifamily homes sold in Rhode Island in the second quarter jumped significantly year to year, while the media price of condominiums sold fell slightly.
And there have been mixed results of the number of homes and condos sold in the Ocean State over the last three months as well.
According to data released Friday by the Rhode Island Association of Realtors, the median price of single-family homes sold in the state rose 9.3% from a year ago to $470,130. Compared with the end of the first quarter, the median sales price of a single-family home in the Ocean State was $440,000. At the time, it represented a 11.4% year-to-year increase from the end of the 2023 first quarter, the Realtors association said.
This data from the Realtors association is in concert with the recent news of median single-family home prices in the state
reaching a record high in June while home sales slowed after showing signs of a market rebound in May.
Regarding multifamily homes, the median price jumped 12.8% year to year in the second quarter to $530,000. However, this year’s second-quarter median price is lower than what it was back at the end of the first quarter when it was $535,000, according to data from the Realtors association.
The median condo sales price not only dropped in the second quarter year to year, but also dropped from the first quarter this year to the next. The median condo sales price in Rhode Island at the end of the second quarter was $352,250, a 3.5% drop year to year. It also dropped from the $370,000 median price it was back at the end of the first quarter of this year.
Additionally, there have been mixed results regarding the number of condominium and home sales. The Realtors association says sales activity fell in the second quarter by 8.7% year to year to 1,892. That drop was worse than the 4.9% first-quarter year-to-year drop the association reported back in April.
The association says stiff competition caused by “pent-up demand” shortened the average time single-family homes stayed on the market before being sold to just four weeks.
It's a different story for the multifamily homes, though. The Realtors association says there were 18.5% more multifamily homes sold in this year’s second quarter than there were in last year’s second quarter, making multifamily homes the only residential property to see increased sales from one year to the next. It also continued a trend from this year’s first quarter, which showed a 5.6% year-to-year increase in multifamily homes sold in the state at that time.
The Realtors association said multifamily homes, once a popular starter home for people looking to have renters offset mortgage costs, have become increasingly harder to purchase for first-time buyers due to increased competition from investors. Plus, multifamily homes had an average market time of 24 days from being listed to going under contract in the second quarter, according to the Realtors association.
Condo sales were flat in the second quarter at 484, just three condos fewer sold than from last year’s second quarter, the Realtors association says. In the first quarter, there was a 7.6% year-to-year jump in condos sold in Rhode Island.
Realtors Association President Sally Hersey says that while inventory is creeping up and mortgage rates are dropping, the market is “still not where we need to be.”
“Homeownership is out of reach for far too many Rhode Islanders,” Hersey said. “Fortunately, the Federal Reserve indicated in its July meeting that the first cut in its benchmark interest rate in more than two years could be on the table at its September meeting. That would be a positive step for prospective homebuyers as mortgage rates typically follow the trends set by the Federal Reserve.”
James Bessette is the PBN special projects editor, and also covers the nonprofit and education sectors. You may reach him at Bessette@PBN.com. You may also follow him on X at @James_Bessette.
