Maine home sales dive in November

SOUTH PORTLAND – Maine real estate sales tumbled into the double-digit range last month as decreases in prices and sales followed a national track downward, an industry group said Friday.

In November, 997 single-family homes were sold in Maine, representing a decrease of 12.5 percent from the same period in 2005 when 1,139 homes were sold, according to Maine Realtors’ multiple listing service.

During the same period, sales of single-family homes across the country were down 10.2 percent, according to the National Association of Realtors. However, the Realtors group also noted that sales of existing homes edged up 0.5 percent in October and then again by 0.6 percent in November, signaling that this year’s housing slide is starting to bottom out.

The sales drops were accompanied by decreases in median prices at the state and national levels. In Maine, the median price of an existing single-family home was $185,000, a 3.9 percent drop from the November 2005 price of $192,500, the Maine Realtors said.

Nationally, the median price was down 3.6 percent to $217,200.

A regional nonprofit forecast organization sees no rebound in prices in the short term. The New England Economic Partnership projects the region’s home prices will remain flat through 2010 and fall short of the U.S. forecast of 2.1 percent growth per year through the decade’s end.

In New England, only Connecticut and Vermont are expected to see housing prices rise at rates above the national average through 2010.

Maine real estate agents emphasized the brighter side of the housing slump.

“I’m pretty optimistic,” said Colon Durrell, an East Wilton agent and president of Maine Real Estate Information System, which provides the Maine sales figures. “We still have really good interest rates and Maine is still considered a really good place to live.”

John Hatcher of The Hatcher Group in Portland said buyers are in a better position than they were a year ago because they don’t have to make on-the-spot decisions to buy a house.

“With increased inventory, buyers can take more time to decide,” Hatcher said.

Within Maine, 12 of the 16 counties recorded decreases in home sales between the three months ending Nov. 30, 2005, and the same period this year. Only Aroostook, Franklin, Piscataquis and Washington counties recorded increases.

Meanwhile, permits to build new homes are expected to decline in all New England states through 2010, as builders reduce their investments in response to the soft market, the regional forecasting group said.