Median Price of Single Family Home in RI Was $384,000 in July - Up 16% Over 2020
GoLocalProv News Team
Median Price of Single Family Home in RI Was $384,000 in July - Up 16% Over 2020
On Thursday, RI Realtors released the latest July numbers, as well as the trends they are seeing.
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GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLASTThe median price of $384,000 in July was 16% higher than that of July 2020 and the number of homes available for sale was 20% lower.
"These factors, and possibly rising fears about the transmission of the COVID variant, are the most likely factors leading to a 12% decrease in closed sales. Until last month, the number of monthly single-family home transactions had been rising steadily year-over-year since last summer," the added.
Pending sales also fell slightly for the first time since the economic shutdown, following months of strong, annual gains.
“Fortunately, we’re getting more inventory on the market in recent months, and though the supply is still lower than it was last summer, we are seeing a bit of an upswing. The number of homes on the market typically showed more than a 40% decrease from 12 months earlier for the past year, but that delta shrunk to just 20% last month. Buyers are still challenged by a shortage of homes to choose from but at least we’re seeing small gains,” said Leann D’Ettore, President of the Rhode Island Association of Realtors.
According to statistics from State-Wide Multiple Listing Service, there was a 1.7-month supply of homes on the market at July’s pace of sales, up slightly from 1.6 months in June and less than a one-month inventory in May.
Multi-Family -- and Condo -- Markets
While the multifamily market also saw an increase in median price, rising 23% to $370,000, sales of those properties bucked the downward trend in closing activity seen in the single-family home market. In fact, multifamily home sales rose 68 percent compared to July 2020.
The surge in sales is owed at least in part to low-interest financing and strong investment income and affordability thanks to rising rents, said RI Realtors.
Both median price and closing activity also increased in the condominium market. July’s median sales price of $275,000 represented a 14% increase since July 2020 and the number of transactions rose by 7%.
“Trends in condo sales typically lag behind what we see in the single-family home market. The number of condos put under contract in July but not closed until after the month ended, was up more than 31% last month. That’s a strong indication that we won’t see condominium sales falling below last year’s levels any time soon,” said D’Ettore.
RI Realtors also reported that the growing trend of out-of-state buyers continued in July. 27% of Rhode Island property sales came from buyers from other states, primarily Massachusetts, New York and Connecticut. Once again, that influx was even more pronounced in the luxury market of properties sold for one million dollars or more. 51% of those properties were sold to out-of-state buyers.