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The southern Maine Housing Markets in the month of October saw same continued trend of lower transaction volume by about 10% from a year prior and prices about 10-15% off from the year prior.  The month over month data does however point towards a leveling out of the market.   Days on market for 3 out of the 4 counties ticked upwards and inventories for the southern maine markets dropped considerably.

Total Housing Inventories and Net Change by County:

                            11/17/08      10/15/08          Net Change

York                    2687           2987                      -300

Cumberland       2992           3259                      -267

Sagadahoc           446             468                 …

For the month ending October 2008 in Portland Maine..39 residential real estate transactions transpired with an average sales price of 259K. This compares with 56 transactions at an average price of 267K in 2007, thus seeing a significant transaction volume drop in the Portland Maine real estate markets of 30% but only a small 3 percent drop in price. Month over month sales volume was lower by 7 transactions from September but the average sold price rose by 13%.

View more southern ME real estate reports here. 

Pricing in Southern Maine took a significant hit in the month of July compared to previous months.   A 22% drop in York county was seen and the rest of the counties fell on average of 7%.    Transaction levels continue to remain down by about 15% although Portland Maine real estate seems to continue to chug along at a moderately healthy pace.   York and Cumberland counties remain about where they were a year ago with regard to days on market and transaction levels.  Going forward concerns in Maine will be the price of oil and the lending practices of the banking industry.

As inventory levels continue to escalate throughout the spring season an alarming reduction in transactions levels was seen for the month of May. Total sold transactions for the 4 counties followed in May 2007 was 672 versus 816 in May 2006, an 18% reduction.    The Days on Market for all 4 counties jumped significantly, but average sold prices rose in 3 out of the 4 counties.    My thoughts: Higher interest rates + market volatility = Uneasy feeling for the short and mid-term market outlook.

Statistics for April show the continued trends of rising inventories yet increasing prices, a quandary for traditional Supply/Demand economics.  Prices were up in 3 out of the 4 counties followed with a 6.7% increase in Cumberland.  The number of properties sold increased in Lincoln and York, remained flat in Sagadahoc but saw a strong decline in Cumberland partially attributed to the Portland younger buyer’s inability to secure loans due to increasingly stringent lending practices for higher risk financing.  A general sense of “blah” seems to have clouded the markets in April, yet investor and consumer sentiment seem to point toward improving market conditions for late spring.  Read Full Post

Commentary:  Housing Sales Drop
Last month the National Association of Realtors released March statistics showing the largest drop in 18 years for home sales.  The Maine Association of Realtors released statewide statistics showing a statewide drop of 12.4% compared to 8.4% for the nation.  Despite these drops the average sold price for the month inched higher, 0.5% nationwide and 2.5% for Maine.  The housing statistics for the 4 counties followed mirror the national and statewide stats; lower volume, higher average prices.  Largely attributed to stricter lending practices rolled out in March and significant harsh weather thanks to mother nature activity in the local markets continues to remain strong and not as dire as the statistics may lead one to…