WARWICK – Single-family home sales in Rhode Island increased 4.5 percent year over year in February to 579 sales, according to the Rhode Island Association of Realtors Friday.
The median sale price of a single-family home in Rhode Island was $250,000 for the month, an increase of 8.23 percent year over year. The average days spent on market for a single-family home was 65 days, itself a decline of 18.75 percent from February 2017.
At the same time, inventory of single-family homes in the state declined 15.6 percent from February 2017 to February 2018 to 2,614 homes.
Warwick experienced the highest volume of sales in February, with 68 single-family sales, followed by Cranston at 46 sales.
Rhode Island’s sales uptick was counter to the general trend in the Northeast, the RIAR noted, with the National Association of Realtors reporting a 12.3 percent decline in the region in February from a year earlier.
Monthly pending single-family home sales declined 18.7 percent to 950 sales in February, which the RIAR sees as a sign of moderating sales to come. This number has fallen year over year for 15 consecutive months.
Despite this, the RIAR remained optimistic the Rhode Island home market would remain strong.
“We’re heading into the spring market full steam ahead. It appears that it is taking shape a bit earlier this year as consumers head out early to try to get ahead of the rush of buyers who will be competing for spring inventory,” said Joseph Luca, 2018 president of the Rhode Island Association of Realtors, in a statement.
Condominium sales in Rhode Island increased 5.7 percent year over year to 112 sales in February. The median price of a condo was $210,750 remaining “relatively steady” from the year prior, the report noted. The average days on market for a condo was 66 days in February, 10 days fewer than a year earlier. There were 683 listings for the month, a 10.4 percent decline form February 2017’s 762 listings, and 227 pending sales, roughly the same numbers as a year before.
Multifamily home sales accounted for 117 transactions in February, 1.7 percent more than February 2017 sales. The median price of a multifamily home in the Ocean State was $228,500, a 26.9 percent increase year over year.
Chris Bergenheim is the PBN web editor.
