Maine home sales fell in June, while prices climbed
By Christopher Burns, Bangor Daily News Staff
Maine saw home sales fall in June, snapping a four-month climb.
Buyers closed deals on 1,291 homes in June, a 10 percent decrease compared with the 1,435 sold in June 2023, according to the Maine Association of Realtors.
Meanwhile, the median sales price for a Maine home rose by 5.5 percent to $406,000, compared with $385,000 in June 2023.
“While the number of sales is down in June, for the first six months of 2024 homes sales are up 2.4 percent compared to January through June 2023,” Paul McKee, the president of the Maine Association of Realtors and a broker affiliated with Keller Williams Realty in Portland, said this week.
Despite the less impressive sale numbers for June, McKee there’s been a “notable improvement” in the number of homes available for sale, which he called “good news for buyers.”
“It’s been 35 months since the inventory of homes for sale surpassed the current level of 4,400,” McKee said.
That fall in sales in the Pine Tree State mirrors a broader fall nationally, with sales down 4.3 percent year over year, while the median sales price has risen nationally 4.1 percent to $432,700, according to the National Association of Realtors.
Sales in the Northeast also have fallen 6 percent, while the median sales price rose 9.7 percent to $521,500.
On the county level, the most significant increase in median home prices was in Piscataquis County, where it has risen nearly 42 percent to $241,000 for the three-month period ending June 30, compared with the same time last year. The highest median home price for the period was in Cumberland County, where it reached $580,000.
Median home prices fell in Washington (16.5 percent), Oxford (6.6 percent), Somerset (4.3 percent) and Lincoln (0.85 percent) counties over that period compared with the same time last year. Aroostook had the lowest median home price overall ($155,000), unchanged from the same three-month period in 2023.
On the sales front, Waldo County saw the largest sales bump over that three-month period, increasing 15 percent. It was followed by Sagadahoc (11.8 percent) and Knox (10.9 percent) counties. Sales fell most sharply in Somerset County, where they are down nearly 21.5 percent.