WARWICK – Sales of existing multi-family homes and condominiums in Rhode Island both fell during 2007, according to year-end figures released today by the Rhode Island Association of Realtors.
Multi-family home sales fell 27.3 percent to 1,254 in 2007, accelerating from the previous year’s 25.2-percent drop compared with 2005.
The median price of multi-families sold across the state fell 10.5 percent last year to $255,000, after falling 1.72 percent from 2005 to 2006. In Providence, where the most multi-family homes are sold each year, the median price fell 39.1 percent to $168,950.
Condo sales also fell in 2007, although at a slower rate than multi-family homes. Realtors sold 1,806 condominiums statewide in 2007, a 4.1-percent drop from 2006. The decline was slower than the previous year’s 16.4-percent drop compared with 2005 figures.
At the same time, median condominium prices dropped 1.78 percent in 2007 to $221,000, after falling 2.79 percent from 2005 to 2006.
“Rhode Island’s condo market didn’t fare too badly last year,” RIAR President Robert Scaralia said in a statement today. “Multi-family properties, on the other hand, were harder hit as multi-family-to-condo conversions ceased being attractive to investors.”
The National Association of Realtors has said the residential market probably will continue its slump through at least the first half of 2008, though sales may pick up later in the year.
“Existing-home sales have moved narrowly since last September,” Lawrence Yun, the trade group’s chief economist, said this week in an NAR statement (available online at www.Realtor.org) urging the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight to move quickly to raise roof for limits on “conforming” loans. “But when the full impact of higher loan limits for conventional mortgages begins to impact the market, there is likely to be a notable rise in home sales and prices.”
The Rhode Island Association of Realtors, with nearly 5,000 member Realtors, is one of more than 1,800 local boards and associations that comprise the nation’s largest trade association, the National Association of Realtors. For additional information – including RIAR statistics on 2007 condominium and multi-family home sales in cities and towns across the state – visit www.riliving.com.
NAR reports and information can be found at www.realtor.org.
