WARWICK – Sales of single-family homes in Rhode Island fell 12.5 percent last year as the median price of those homes fell 14.6 percent, to $234,900 from $275,000 in 2007, according to year-end statistics released today by the Rhode Island Association of Realtors.
The 6,648 homes sold in Rhode Island last year marked the fourth consecutive year of declining sales, which peaked with 9,982 sales in 2004.
RIAR noted that local home sales posted year-over-year gains during the last quarter and last month of 2008. Single-family sales in the last three months of the year were up 1.4 percent – to 1,570 in the fourth quarter of 2008 from 1,549 in the same quarter of 2007. But the median price of houses sold in the fourth quarter plummeted 20.8 percent, to $205,000 in 2008 from $259,000 in the final quarter of 2007.
The state’s 491 house sales in December marked a 7.4-percent increase from the 455 sales of both November 2008 (READ MORE) and the final month of 2007. But foreclosures and short sales accounted for 43.4 percent of last month’s transactions – 213 of the 491 sales last month were “distressed” – driving the December median price down to $190,000. Not including distressed sales, the median price for single-family homes sold in the state last month was $250,000.
“We’re definitely seeing a trend. Foreclosure sales and the accompanying price decreases have initiated increased sales,” RIAR President Paul A. Leys said in a statement. “The faster we move these properties through the market cycle, the sooner prices will begin to stabilize. The good news is that with sales on the upswing, inventory is decreasing.”
Another trend seen by the RIAR – besides decreases both in the number of properties sold and their median price – was an increase in the number of days that single-family homes are staying on the market: The average wait before a house was sold rose to 96 days last year from 88 days in 2007. Yet, although last year’s days-on-market rose to nearly double the average early this decade – from 2000 through 2005, the average wait for a house in Rhode Island to sell was 59.3 days – the period remained shorter than in the 1990s, a decade when the local average was 116 days.
Also today, the RIAR released a statement saying that it supports the National Association of Realtors’ efforts to push the U.S. Congress to draft a housing recovery plan that includes a reduction in interest rates; an extension of the $7,500 federal tax credit for first-time home-buyers; and the elimination of “the need to pay back” that credit.
“We’re hopeful that NAR’s initiatives will be implemented by the new administration. They will help restore the market by decreasing foreclosures and stabilizing home prices,” Leys said.
“But it’s just as important to put the current situation in context, to help restore consumer confidence,” added the RIAR president, who also is co-owner and broker of Gustave White Sotheby’s International Realty in Newport. “There are about a quarter-million single-family households in Rhode Island. Last year, 1,752 of them were sold through short sales or foreclosure. That’s 1,752 too many – but, thankfully, it’s less than 1 percent of Rhode Island homes.”
The Rhode Island Association of Realtors has more than 4,700 member Realtors, who in 2008 were involved in 10,000-some transactions with a total value of $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.
