SOUTH PORTLAND — Home sales in Maine rose 8.3 percent in March, continuing an increase in volume and beating national trends, while the median sale price dropped for the second month in a row, compared with last year, to $169,000.
Angelia Levesque, a Bangor real estate broker and president of the Maine Association of Realtors, said new buyers re-entering the market and continued shedding of foreclosed properties have helped drive both trends.
“First time homebuyers are getting back into the market again. … That always means there’s confidence out there, and that’s a great indicator,” she said, noting that those homes typically garner lower prices.
Levesque also said more investors are paying cash to pick up foreclosed homes at low prices. She expects that sales volume to continue to rise over last year as the weather warms, which she said stands to help drive up the median sales price as more waterfront properties come on the market.
Nationally, sales volume dropped 7.7 percent in April, according to the National Association of Realtors; sales in the Northeast dropped 6.3 percent in the same comparison.
While dropping in volume, the national median sales price for single-family homes rose 4.7 percent, to $201,100. Regionally, the median sales price was nearly flat, dropping 0.4 percent to $244,000.
Levesque attributed the national rise in median sales price to declining inventory in other parts of the country, partly because of a decline in available foreclosed properties.
“Places like Florida, where every other house was for sale for a while, is back to a stable market,” she said.
Levesque said spring sales also were delayed in part by the prolonged winter with more homes coming on the market this month.
“This winter was very quiet, but you won’t find a lot of Realtors complaining about that now,” she said.
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