Real estate prices were mixed in the Twin Cities, but the number of sales fell in 2007.

In Auburn, the average real estate sales price rose by 4.1 percent, according to City Assessor Cheryl Dubois. In Lewiston, sales prices declined by 5 percent, according to Assessor Joe Grube.

Overall property transfers in both cities, however, tumbled by 20 to 22 percent in 2007, compared to 2006.

That mirrors trends in Maine and throughout the Northeast, where home sales were down 16.7 percent while prices were up 2.1 percent, according to the National Association of Realtors.

Nationally, home sales and home prices went down in 2007.

“People try to speculate (about) what goes on in the rest of the country means for us, but it doesn’t always work,” Auburn’s Dubois said. “We tend to be about six months behind the trend.”

But Dubois said that fewer sales could mean that real estate prices will start declining.

Property sales – including homes, vacant lots and businesses – had reached a plateau with 939 transfers in 2005 and 922 transfers in 2006. That fell to 720 transfers in 2007.

“I think the number of market sales is reflective of what’s going on nationally with the real estate market,” Dubois said. “People are more cautious financially, and they’re certainly more cautious about borrowing.”

The drop in Lewiston real estate sales was coupled with a reduction in prices, according to Grube. The city had 981 transfers in 2006 compared with 783 in 2007. Real estate price declined by 5 percent, the first time prices fell since 1999.

“It’s just not the robust market we’ve seen in 2004, in 2003 and again in 2005,” Grube said.

Lewiston councilors last year set the city’s assessed value at $1.7 billion, about 75 percent of the estimated citywide market value of $2.3 billion. Maine municipalities use overall real estate values to determine their assessed value, and that lets them calculate the property tax rate and property taxes due.

Grube said the 2007 price decline could let the City Council delay a full revaluation again. The city tracks real estate prices on a fiscal year through February, and he’s still waiting for sales statistics from last month.

“If we see that trend continue, it could give us something to talk to the City Council about,” he said.