SOUTH PORTLAND — Maine real estate sales continued to climb in January, fueled by second-home buyers and those not deterred by the weather. Maine Listings released monthly statistics recently that show that sales of Maine’s single-family existing homes jumped 8.60 percent last month. The median sales price for those sales dipped 3.9 percent to $160,000. The MSP indicates that half of the homes were sold for more and half sold for less.

The National Association of Realtors reported a nationwide sales increase of 3.9 percent in January, while prices rose 6.3 percent to a national MSP of $199,800. Regionally, sales in the Northeast were up 3.3 percent and the regional MSP increased 2.7 percent to $247,800.

Marie Flaherty, 2015 president of the Maine Association of Realtors, pointed out that nine out of 10 homebuyers search the Internet at some point in their home search process, with mainelistings.com and realtor.com having the most comprehensive, accurate information for online research.

Below are two charts showing statistics for Maine and its 16 counties. The first chart lists statistics for the month of January only, statewide. The second chart compares the number of existing, single-family homes sold (units) and volume (MSP) during the “rolling quarter” the months of November 1, 2013 to January 31, 2014 and November 1, 2014 to January 31, 2015.

Maine Real Estate Statistics — January 2015 Housing Report — 2/23/15

JANUARY ONLY CHART

January 1-31, 2014 – January 1-31, 2015

County # Units Sold # Units Sold % MSP MSP %

2013 2014 Chng 2013 2014 Chng

STATEWIDE 721 783 8.60% $166,500 $160,000 -3.90%

ROLLING QUARTER CHART

From November 1, 2013 – January 31, 2014 and

November 1, 2014 – January 31, 2015

County # Units Sold # Units Sold % MSP MSP %

2013-14 2014-15 Chng 2013-14 2014-15 Chng

STATEWIDE 2797 2842 1.61% $170,000 $173,500 2.06%

Androscoggin 166 193 16.27% $128,000 $133,200 4.06%

Aroostook 91 91 0.00% $85,000 $85,000 0.00%

Cumberland 713 714 0.14% $233,000 $235,750 1.18%

Franklin 62 83 33.87% $128,500 $130,000 1.17%

Hancock 137 131 -4.38% $189,000 $210,000 11.11%

Kennebec 243 226 -7.00% $128,500 $135,000 5.06%

Knox 104 96 -7.69% $164,625 $185,953 12.96%

Lincoln 83 100 20.48% $296,325 $182,500 -38.41%

Oxford 125 141 12.80% $135,000 $125,000 -7.41%

Penobscot 234 218 -6.84% $129,500 $131,800 1.78%

Piscataquis 43 54 25.58% $60,000 $96,500 60.83%

Sagadahoc 72 82 13.89% $165,000 $182,500 10.61%

Somerset 92 81 -11.96% $94,000 $100,000 6.38%

Waldo 77 75 -2.60% $144,500 $146,000 1.04%

Washington 49 62 26.53% $95,000 $73,250 -22.89%

York 506 495 -2.17% $205,000 $216,000 5.37%

Source: Maine Real Estate Information System, Inc. (d/b/a Maine Listings). Note: Maine Listings, a subsidiary of the Maine Association of REALTORS, is a statewide multiple listing service with more than 4,200 licensees inputting active and sold property listing data. Statistics reflect properties reported as sold in the system within the time periods indicated.