WARWICK – Nearly half the single-family homes sales in January in Rhode Island were either short sales or foreclosures, causing the median price to fall 28.6 percent to $175,000 from $245,000 for the same year-ago month, according to statistics released today by the Rhode Island Association of Realtors.
The 364 single-family homes sold represented a 3.2 percent drop from the 376 sold in January 2008. (READ MORE)
However, of those, 47.8 percent, or 174 homes, were “distressed” sales, the RIAR reported, up from 43.4 percent in December (READ MORE). The median price last month for house sales not classified as distressed was $227,475.
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The report this morning stressed the varying impact of the foreclosure crisis on different Ocean State municipalities. In Providence, for example, 75.2 percent of January sales were foreclosures and the median sale price was $75,000. In Jamestown, where there were no distress sales last month, the median price topped $1.8 million.
“It’s never been more important to understand your local market,” RIAR President Paul A. Leys said in a statement. “Pricing trends are all over the map, by town and by market segment. The median price of homes sold for over $1 million, for example, actually increased by 22 percent in January. There’s no hard-and-set rule to live by for all properties.”
Condominium sales fell 42.5 percent year over year, dropping to 50 units from 87 units in January 2008. The median price fell to $166,000 from $210,000 in January 2008.
And multi-family home sales more than doubled, rising from 65 sales in January 2008 to 164 sales last month, an increase of 152.3 percent. The median price fell 40.1 percent year over year, dropping to $91,000 last month from $152,000 a year earlier.
Of the multi-family homes sold last month statewide, 82 percent were either foreclosures or short sales, the RIAR noted. That continued the trend in the final quarter of 2008, when such distress sales accounted for 77 percent of transactions in December. (READ MORE)
Distress sales also have increased in recent months in the condominium market, although less sharply than for multi-family or single-family homes, the RIAR reported earlier this month. They accounted for about 12.7 percent of condo sales in all of 2008 and 21.2 percent in the year’s final quarter. (READ MORE)
Leys this morning stressed that stabilizing the market will require a reduction in the state’s housing inventory.
“We’re pleased that President [Barack] Obama has taken steps to make credit more available to buyers,” he said. “We need to make sure that sales under contract are able to get through the lending quagmire, and the stimulus package” – the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, expected to bring about $1 billion in credits or payments and 12,000 jobs to the Rhode Island economy (READ MORE) – “has components in place to do that. We think that the new government incentives for lenders and buyers will be the push needed to make the market level out.”
The Rhode Island Association of Realtors has more than 4,700 member Realtors, who in 2008 were involved in more than 10,000 transactions totaling $2.8 billion. The RIAR is one of more than 1,800 local boards and associations comprising the nation’s largest trade association, the National Association of Realtors. To learn more, visit www.riliving.com.
