Maine home sales rose in August despite tight supply

Maine home sales rose in August despite buyers encountering fewer properties on the market.
Buyers closed deals on 1,535 homes in August, a 1.66 percent increase compared with the 1,510 sold in August 2023, according to the Maine Association of Realtors.
Meanwhile, the median sales price for a Maine home rose by 7.53 percent to $400,000, compared with $372,000 in August 2023.
“The number of homes for sale in Maine has nearly doubled since February 2024,” Paul McKee, the president of the Maine Association of Realtors and a broker affiliated with Keller Williams Realty in Portland, said Thursday. “Despite the increase of inventory, the supply-and-demand imbalance remains challenging, and supply is still below the levels needed.
But McKee said there are optimistic signs for buyers: more homes are coming onto the market and mortgage rates are beginning to decrease.
“Strong demand remains for the inventory we have,” he said.
The Pine Tree State bucked a broader fall in sales nationally, with sales down 3.3 percent year over year, while the median sales price has risen nationally 2.9 percent to $422,100, according to the National Association of Realtors.
In the Northeast, sales remained fall in August, compared with a year earlier, while the median sales price rose 7.7 percent to $503,200.
On the county level in Maine, the most significant increase in median home prices was in Piscataquis County, where it has risen nearly 31.19 percent to $254,500 for the three-month period ending Aug. 31, compared with the same time last year. The highest median home price for the period was in Cumberland County, where it reached $592,000, a 7.64 percent increase.
Median home prices fell in Oxford (3.08 percent), Hancock (2.41 percent) and Knox (1.89 percent) counties over that three-month period, compared with the same time last year. Aroostook had the lowest median home price overall ($168,500), up 11.59 percent from the same period in 2023.
On the sales front, Franklin County saw the largest sales bump over that three-month period, increasing 14.42 percent. It was followed by Androscoggin (12.11 percent) and Hancock (11.11 percent) counties. Sales fell most sharply in Lincoln County, where they are down 18.06 percent, followed by Piscataquis (16.82 percent), Knox (14.38 percent) and Oxford (13.57 percent) counties.