WARWICK – The sale of single-family homes across the Ocean State continued to drop during the first six months of 2008, according to statistics released today by the Rhode Island Association of Realtors (RIAR).
From January through June, Realtors sold 3,140 local single-family homes, a 19.84-percent reduction from the same period last year, the RIAR said. For the same period, the median price of homes sold in the state fell 9.7 percent to $248,250.
But the Rhode Island market is “showing signs of recovery,” Lawrence Yun, chief economist for the National Association of Realtors, said in a statement. He was referencing the rise of pending sales, which the RIAR described as the “most current indicator of the market.”
Sales are listed as pending at the time a contract is signed; existing home sales are registered at the time of the deals’ closings, which often come one to three months after the initial signing. Pending single-family home sales in Rhode Island rose to 1,119 last month, an 8.01-percent increase from the 1,036 recorded in June 2007.
RIAR President Robert “Rob” Scaralia, of RE/MAX 1st Choice in Cranston, agreed with the NAR’s Yun.
“It’s important to analyze the trends to understand the market,” Scaralia said in a statement today. “Month-to-month sales don’t tell the story due to seasonal sales fluctuations,” he said. “But comparing the data year to year gives you a benchmark to figure out where you’re headed.
“I think what we’re seeing is very promising – and the government’s stimulus packages (READ MORE) will help even more,” Scaralia said. “Many first-time homebuyers will return to the market to take advantage of the temporary homebuyer tax credit of up to $7,500.”
Yun noted that “about four in 10 homes are purchased by first-time buyers, which frees existing owners to trade up. With many first-time buyers on the sidelines, a first-time buyer tax credit would have a significant positive impact on both housing and the economy.”
Meanwhile, the RIAR said, local sales of condominiums dropped 31.36 percent during the first half of this year, falling to 647 from 944 during the same six months last year. But the median price of those condos was nearly unchanged, rising 0.2 percent to $215,500.
Multi-family home sales stayed nearly even year over year, according to the RIAR. During the first six months of 2007, 673 multi-families were sold statewide, compared with the 670 sold in the first half of this year. But the median price of those homes plummeted, the Realtors found.
The median price of multi-family homes sold statewide was $265,000 in the first half of 2007, but fell to $151,050 for the first half of 2008. That’s a 43-percent drop, the RIAR noted.
[The RIAR report is similar to the statistics released later today by The Warren Group, a Boston-based real estate data tracker. (READ MORE).]
The Rhode Island Association of Realtors has nearly 4,000 member Realtors who last year were involved with more than 14,000 transactions totaling more than $4.24 billion. RIAR is one of more than 1,800 local boards and associations comprising the nation’s largest trade association, the National Association of Realtors. For additional information, including town-by-town statistics, visit www.RILiving.com.
