PROVIDENCE – The Rhode Island real estate market is red hot these days as prices rise, inventory dives and the volume of sales in the state shows no sign of slowing down.
The median price of a single-family home in Rhode Island in May was $365,000, a rise of 17.9% year over year, according to data released Wednesday by the Rhode Island Association of Realtors. The median sale price of a home in the state was $349,000 one month prior.
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Rhode Island isn’t alone in seeing home sale prices skyrocket. Across the border in Bristol County, Mass., the median home sale price for the month was $410,000, and the median sale of a home across the entire Bay State was over $500,000 for the second consecutive month.
Single-family home sales in Rhode Island for the month totaled 884, a rise of 19.1% year over year.
There were 863 listings in May, a decline of 64% from one year prior, and lower than the 1,122 listings one month prior. Pending sales totaled 1,742, a rise of nearly 40% year over year.
“The demand for Ocean State real estate remains searing hot,” said Leann D’Ettore, president of the Rhode Island Association of Realtors. “Sellers are seeing multiple offers and all but the most qualified and prepared buyers are having a tough time getting into a home. We’re hopeful that as we come out of the pandemic and the economy continues to improve, we’ll see more people willing to put their home up for sale. Even if that occurs, Rhode Island needs more new construction to accommodate the growing demand.”
Another sign of a hot real estate market: The average number of days on the market for sold homes in May was 32, a decline from 56 in May 2020 and 59 in May 2019.
The state’s home sale market is moving so fast that RIAR said that, “At the current rate of sales, Rhode Island’s inventory would be depleted in less than one month,” describing the state’s home inventory as “vanishing.”
The condominium market in Rhode Island also saw signs of heating up. The median sale price of a condo in the Ocean State rose 43.7% year over year, and 21.5% month to month, to $350,000.
Condo sales totaled 197 in May in the state, a rise of 33.1% year over year. Meanwhile, condo listings in the state totaled 280, a 56% decline from May 2020. The average number of days on market also declined 58.7% year over year to 31. Similar to the single-family home market, pending sales had also risen, increasing 135.4% from one year prior to 565.
The state’s multifamily home market also saw significant sales action in May.
There were 197 multifamily home sales in Rhode Island for the month, a rise of 111.8% year over year. The median sale price of a multifamily in the state was $350,000 in May, a rise of 14.7% year over year, but a decline of $5,000 from one month prior. Listings of multifamily homes totaled 280, a decline of 21.6% year over year.
The average number of days on the market declined from 45 to 31. Pending sales totaled 565, a rise of just over 100% from one year prior.
Chris Bergenheim is PBN web editor. You may reach him at Bergenheim@PBN.com.
