PROVIDENCE – The median price of a single-family home in Rhode Island increased 3.9 percent year over year to $265,000 in December, according to the Rhode Island Association of Realtors Monday.
At the same time, sales of single-family homes in Rhode Island declined 15.6 percent year over year to 775 for the month. Meanwhile, the number of listings in the state increased 8.3 percent to 2,835 homes. Single-family homes spent an average of 60 days on the market, level with December 2017.
There were 30 distressed sales in December, 24 fewer than one year prior.
There were 741 single-family homes pending sale in December, a decline from 889 in December 2017.
“The increase in supply of properties for sale is timely, as we will soon be entering the spring market. Hopefully the inventory constraints that we have witnessed in the housing market in recent years will continue to subside,” said Dean deTonnancourt, 2019 president of the Rhode Island Association of Realtors, in a statement.
Condominium sales in Rhode Island remained unchanged in December from one year prior at 160 sales in December, while the median price declined 6.7 percent to $215,500. Listings of condos in the Ocean State increased 12.6 percent year over year to 717. Condos spent an average of 68 days on the market, a decline from 73 days one year prior. There were only four distressed condo sales in December, compared with six the year prior. There were 214 pending condo sales in December, a increase from 205 in December 2017.
There were 170 multifamily home sales in December, a decline of 13.7 percent from December 2017. The median price of a multifamily home was $259,450 for the month, a 15.3 percent increase year over year. There were 486 listings in December, a gain of 19.1 percent from one year prior. There were 277 pending multifamily sales in December, 11.5 percent fewer than a year ago.
“The decrease in sales could be caused by low inventory, adjusting interest rates, tax reform influence or some combination of the three. The government shutdown, which began within the last 10 days of the year, could have also had a small impact,” said deTonnancourt.
Chris Bergenheim is the PBN web editor. Email him at Bergenhim@PBN.com.
