Rhode Island home sales fall in 2010, prices rise compared with 2009

RHODE ISLAND home prices rose in 2010 after falling four years in a row, the Rhode Island Association of Realtors said Wednesday. For a larger version click <a href=here. / " title="RHODE ISLAND home prices rose in 2010 after falling four years in a row, the Rhode Island Association of Realtors said Wednesday. For a larger version click here. /"/>
RHODE ISLAND home prices rose in 2010 after falling four years in a row, the Rhode Island Association of Realtors said Wednesday. For a larger version click here. /

WARWICK – Fewer single-family homes sold in Rhode Island during 2010 than in 2009, but those that sold did so faster and typically at a higher price, the Rhode Island Association of Realtors said Wednesday.
The Realtors said that 6,833 homes sold last year, down by 899 – or 11.6 percent – from the year before. (For comparison purposes, the Realtors said the median number of homes sold annually since 1990 is 7,600.)
The median price rose 5.3 percent to $210,000 from $199,400 the year prior. The Realtors said it was the first time in five years that prices for single-family homes increased compared with the prior year. Median prices have been on a downward spiral since they hit $282,900 in 2005.
The Realtors attributed the rise in prices to fewer homes selling at foreclosure or through short sales. The association said such sales comprised 26.7 percent of all sales last year, down from 34.1 percent in 2009.
“We’ve said all along that the key to the recovery in the housing market is to get the distressed sales out of the system,” association President Stephen Antoni said. “That seems to be happening. Despite reports of increased foreclosure filings, people seem to be steering their way out of the foreclosure or short sale process, whether through loan modifications or other means.”
Last year also likely picked up some sales that buyers, spurred by the federal homebuyers tax credit, initiated in 2009. At the end of that year, Congress extended the deadline for buyers to close the deals until April 2010. In Rhode Island, April sales in 2010 were 26.3 percent greater than from the April the year before. Three months later, monthly sales started to fall compared with the same month in the prior year but prices rose.
Mirroring the single-family home market, sales of multifamily homes dropped in 2010 but the median price rose. The Realtors said 1,565 multifamily homes sold last year, down 721 homes – or 31.5 percent – from the year before. The median price rose 35.4 percent to $121,900 from $90,000.
In the condominium market, sales decreased by 63 – or 5.2 percent – to 1,144. The median price rose 4.5 percent to $187,000 from $179,000.

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