Maine Real Estate Report

Home Sales Statistics & Results -  2019

For the fifth consecutive year, Maine home sales set a record in 2019 as 18,335 single family homes were sold, representing an increase of 1.7% over 2018 when total volume was 18,022.

As a point of comparison, sales in 2015 were 15,871. Homes sales have increased for eight consecutive years and have been up annually each year except two since the historic low of 9,782 in 2008 – at which time they had declined an unprecedented 19% from the year before.

While single family sales continued to grow statewide in 2019, they appear to be plateauing with increases of less than 2% for the last 3 years.

While the 17-18 season saw sales in York County increase and Cumberland County decrease, this past year these numbers flipped. York county saw a 1% decrease and Cumberland saw a 0.4% increase. Again, these percentage changes are minimal, factoring into the consistent sales numbers the last few years. s.

Median Pricing

The YTD (Year-to-Date) median single-family price of $225,000 represented a 4.6% increase over 2018.  Overall, pricing was up in 13 of Maine’s 16 counties, and remained consistent in one. Piscataquis had the highest percent increase in median pricing, jumping 14.2% from $107,500 to $122,750. While Kennebec took the hardest hit, falling 26.2% from $162,500 down to $120,000...

Condos

Condos sold represented 9.7% of the residential market, compared to 9.8% in 2018. The median price of a condo increased from $236,000 in 2018 to $248,000 in 2019, representing an increase of 5%. Overall, the number of units sold increased 9.7%, reflecting a total of 2102 in 2019.  

The three largest markets for condos were Portland (387), Old Orchard Beach (147) and Wells (164).  Portland pricing decreased by just 3.9%, while both Wells and Old Orchard’s pricing increased. In fact, Old Orchard had the highest market jump in pricing at 37.5%. In most local towns the percentage of condos sold is a small part of the overall sales mix, resulting in wide fluctuations in median prices on relatively small volumes

Waterfront Real Estate

Waterfront properties of all kinds are an important part of Maine real estate – whether as a permanent residence or a vacation home.  Sales of waterfront properties increased from 3,253 in 2018 to 3,274 in 2019.  The median price also increased from $265,000 in 2018 to $275,000 in 2019, the second year in a row that reversed a previous trend of declines in this market segment. This group of properties were on the market for 52 days.

The sales of lakefront properties also increased in 2019 as 1,197 1,111 properties were sold statewide, reflecting a 7.7% increase.  The median price, however, increased more significantly from $250,000 in 2018 to $270,000 reflecting an 8% hike. In Maine, lakefront homes range from small camps to large estates, and pricing can vary considerably.    

Inventory

During the course of 2019 the inventory of homes available across Maine declined, as it has for the last several years.  Active listings fell by 11% from December 2018 to 2019, reaching a low point of 6,673.  The lack of inventory was most acute in the price segment of $200,000 to $350,000 in southern Maine (York and Cumberland counties).

The lack of inventory is also evident in the Months of Inventory calculation (also known as Absorption Rate).  The Absorption Rate is a measure of home long a home would last on the market at the current rate of sales. During 2019 the time to sell a home dropped from 6.65 months in December 2018 to 4.41 months as of yearend.

Maine Single Family: Listings vs Inventory	Detailed Market Updates
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