Maine Real Estate Info

The good: Biddeford-based Intermat this week received a $12.2 million contract from the U.S. Navy for the research and development of materials for use in submarine-launched ballistic missiles.

The bad: The Maine Consensus Economic Forecasting Commission this week downgraded their 2008 forecast for job and personal income growth in Maine. The five-member commission reduced its job growth estimate from 0.3% to zero percent, and its growth estimate for personal income for the year from 4.4% to 3.5%.

The Blob: The city of Lewiston has been beaten by a large, doughy blob “comprised of grease, flour and rags” that has taken over a major sewer line in the city. At a loss for a solution to combat this menace, a public services employee told WMTW the city has chosen to replace the 170-foot sewer line at a cost of up to $60,000.

New home construction in Maine will bottom out in 2008 and industrial lease rates will stabilize due to low demand, experts said yesterday at the Maine Real Estate & Development Association’s annual conference.Presenter Charles Colgan, a former state economist and professor at the University of Southern Maine’s Muskie School of Public Service, said new home construction in Maine will continue to fall in 2008, but not nearly as low as in other parts of the country. Meanwhile, lease rates for industrial sites in southern Maine will stay mostly the same, so landlords should try to keep existing tenants if possible, even if that means lowering rent, said Michael Miller of NAI The Dunham Group.

The MEREDA conference, held at Portland’s Holiday Inn by the Bay, included forecasts for the commercial and residential real estate markets in Portland, Lewiston-Auburn and Bangor.

This is the type of information we need to know and be able to communicate with our buyers and sellers, says Paul McKee, Team Leader of Keller Williams Realty Mid Maine. The Maine real estate market is holding steady regarding prices, slightly up in 07, but the number of transactions have decreased from the previous year.  Over all, Maine is fairing much better than what you here Nationally and that message needs to made clear to our clients.  Buyers need to know that prices are actually slightly higher, so “give aways” are not happening like they think, and sellers need to know that there are far less people out there making purchases and more properties for those fewer buyers to look at, so their price and the condition of the home needs to be “in the market” to even have a chance of selling now. Keller Williams Realty Mid Maine is located at 34 Center Street in Auburn Maine and they can be reached at 207-784-2525

Read the full press release here:

MEDIA REPORT:  In a press release to the media today, MREIS reports a 10.07% decrease in home sales comparing 2007 to 2006. Maine’s median sales price reached $194,000 in 2007, up 0.77% from 2006.  Median sales price indicates half of the homes were sold for more and half sold for less. During the month of December only, the statewide median sales price decreased 4.62% and sales were down 23.27 percent. Nationally, single-family home sales declined 21.6% and sales prices dipped 6.5% in the month of December.  NAR reported for all of 2007, home sales fell 13% and median sales price decreased 1.8% to $217,800. In the Northeastern United States, sales were 22.4% lower than last December.  The regional median sales price decreased 8.9% to $258,600.  Go to:  http://www.mainerealtors.com/MaineHousingReport-December2007.pdf

NOTABLE QUOTE:  This last sentence in a Kennebec Journal editorial on 1/19/08 - “But if you’re selling one house in Maine and then buying another, the issue is a little less urgent for you. What you might lose on one end, you can make up on the other.”  To read the entire editorial - http://kennebecjournal.mainetoday.com/view/columns/4671783.html

A great article came out in our local newspaper regarding the housing market in Maine. Here things are a little bit different. Home prices in Maine have actually risen. The article talks about a trend tahat highlights a disconnect in Maine: Over the past year, the number of homes sold has declined by double digits nearly every month. Despite that, median prices continued to edge up, or remain flat.

In November, home sales statewide were off more than 10 percent compared with a year earlier, but the median price – the point at which half the homes sold for more and half for less – rose more than 1 percent, to $188,000.

You can read the whole story here at The Maine Today site: http://pressherald.mainetoday.com/story.php?id=163046&ac=PHnws&pg=1

MREIS PRESS RELEASE:  In a press release to the media today, MREIS reports that the number of homes sales in Maine in November dropped 10.63% comparing November 2007 to November 2006; and the median sales price increased 1.62%.   NAR reports nationwide single-family home sales decreased 19.9%; and national median existing sales price dipped 3.7% to $208,700.  Home sales in the Northeastern U.S. mirrored national statistics with a 19.4% drop in sales, with median sales decreasing 3.2% to $258,300.  The complete press release is posted at http://www.mainerealtors.com/MaineHousingReport-November2007.pdf