Median price of R.I. single-family home up 5.9% in 2018

THE PRICE OF A SINGLE-FAMILY home in Rhode Island in 2018 increased 5.9 percent year over year to $270,000. / BLOOMBERG FILE PHOTO/DERICK E. HINGLE
THE PRICE OF A SINGLE-FAMILY home in Rhode Island in 2018 increased 5.9 percent year over year to $270,000. / BLOOMBERG FILE PHOTO/DERICK E. HINGLE

PROVIDENCE – The median price of a single-family home in Rhode Island in 2018 was $270,000, a 5.9 percent increase from 2017’s $255,000 median, according to the Rhode Island Association of Realtors Thursday.

Yearly sales declined 5.6 percent to 10,670 from 11,305. The average days on market for a home declined 9.8 percent year over year to 55 days.

“For two years prior to 2018 we saw a record-breaking number of sales, so I’m not surprised that we’ve started to see activity scaling back. It’s a normal sequence to restoring balance. The robust markets of 2016 and 2017 left us with very little inventory. Now we’re seeing the beginning of a correction, which will give buyers more options,” Dean deTonnancourt, 2019 president of the Rhode Island Association of Realtors, said in a statement.

The number of distressed sales declined to 524 from 870 in 2017.

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“While inventory continues to increase overall, Rhode Island’s housing market is still understocked,” deTonnancourt added.

The highest median sale price in Rhode Island was in New Shoreham at $1.1 million.

The median price of a condominium in Rhode Island in 2018 was $216,000, compared with $215,000 n 2017. The number of condo sales increased 130 sales year over year to 2,297 sales.

The average days on market declined 16.9 percent year over year to 59 days from 71 days in 2017. The number of distressed condo property sales declined to 58 sales from 97 sales.

There were 2,054 multifamily-home sales in Rhode Island in 2018, a 130-sale increase year over year.

The median price of a multifamily home for the year was $243,000, a 16.4 percent increase from $208,750 in 2017.

The average number of days on the market declined to 48 from 53 in 2017, while distressed property sales of multifamily homes dropped 43.6 percent to 136 sales.

“Multifamily properties have been a hot commodity due to rising rents. Investors see high returns and first-time buyers get help with their mortgage from the payments of their tenants,” explained deTonnancourt. “That’s a big advantage for our largest group of buyers – millennials, many of whom have high amounts of student debt.”

Chris Bergenheim is the PBN web editor. Email him at Bergenheim@PBN.com.

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