Maine Real Estate Information blog

In a press release to the media, MREIS reports the median home sales price in Maine dropped 7.69% in August 2008; with a statewide median sales price of $180,000 compared to $195,000 last August. The median sales price indicates that half of the homes were sold for more and half sold for less. There were 955 home sales in August 2008, down 32.98% from August 2007. Nationally, single-family home sales declined by 9.6% in August.  NAR reported a national median sales price drop of 9.7% to $201,900.

Full Report:  MAINE REAL ESTATE MEDIAN HOME PRICE DOWN IN AUGUST SOUTH PORTLAND (September 24, 2008) - The median home sales price in Maine dropped 7.69 percent in August 2008; with a statewide median sales price of $180,000 compared to $195,000 last August. The median sales price indicates that half of the homes were sold for more and half sold for less. According to the Maine Real Estate Information System, Inc., Realtors reported 955 home sales last month, down 32.98 percent from August 2007. Nationally, single-family home sales declined by 9.6 percent in August. The National Association of Realtors (NAR) reported a national median sales price drop of 9.7 percent to $201,900.
In the regional Northeast, sales decreased 15 percent from one year ago. The regional median sales price dipped 3.8 percent to $271,000. Jim Fitzgerald of Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage in Kennebunk says the real estate rule used to be, “Location, Location, Location. Now it’s Location, Price and Condition. There are plenty of buyers out there, but the days of ‘let’s try a higher price and then we can bring it down later’ is not a strategy worthy of any consideration. Foremost in the seller’s head should be, ‘for what price will it sell, and should we put it on the market for a little less than that?’” Joan Maloney Chrane of RE/MAX Riverside in Topsham says, “Working with a Realtor gives you an advantage–they advise where to market, what incentives to offer and what is proper pricing. Realtors are also a tremendous resource for short sale and foreclosure education.” Below are two charts showing statistics for Maine and its 16 counties. The first chart lists
statistics for the month of August only, statewide. The second chart compares the number of existing, single-family homes sold (units) and volume (MSP) during the months of June, July and August of 2007 and 2008.

Maine Real Estate Statistics –August 2008 Housing Report—9/24/08—

AUGUST ONLY CHART
From August 1-31, 2007 and August 1-31, 2008
STATEWIDE:  # Units Sold 2007 (1425)  # Units Sold 2008 (955)  % Change (-32.98%)  MSP 2007 ($195,000)  MSP 2008($180,000)  % Change(-7.69%)

ROLLING QUARTER CHART
From June 1, 2007 – August 31, 2007 and June 1, 2008 – August 31, 2008
STATEWIDE: 3988 2983 -25.20% $197,714 $186,000 -5.92%
County:
Androscoggin 276 225 -18.48% $163,000 $151,000 -7.36%
Aroostook 113 96 -15.04% $86,000 $96,000 11.63%
Cumberland 991 766 -22.70% $259,000 $242,250 -6.47%
Franklin 94 64 -31.91% $141,000 $134,200 -4.82%
Hancock 156 114 -26.92% $193,750 $211,936 9.39%
Kennebec 362 288 -20.44% $152,000 $139,950 -7.93%
Knox 178 108 -39.33% $208,500 $200,000 -4.08%
Lincoln 142 78 -45.07% $217,500 $184,250 -15.29%
Oxford 169 107 -36.69% $156,000 $150,000 -3.85%
Penobscot 478 335 -29.92% $146,600 $141,000 -3.82%
Piscataquis 72 48 -33.33% $122,500 $94,000 -23.27%
Sagadahoc 120 85 -29.17% $212,250 $194,500 -8.36%
Somerset 95 100 5.26% $123,000 $123,250 0.20%
Waldo 105 68 -35.24% $163,000 $166,500 2.15%
Washington 12 17 41.67% $120,000 $135,000 12.50%
York 625 484 -22.56% $240,000 $225,000 -6.25%

Source: Maine Real Estate Information System, Inc. Note: MREIS, a subsidiary of the Maine Association of REALTORS, is a statewide Multiple Listing Service with over 5,100 licensees inputting active and sold property listing data. Statistics reflect properties reported as sold in the System within the time periods indicated.

A Portland-based real estate firm has secured a government contract to manage a federal housing assistance program for Navy personnel leaving the Brunswick Naval Air Station.

Fishman Realty Group will manage the Army Corps of Engineers’ Homeowners’ Assistance Program in Brunswick, which allows departing Navy personnel struggling to sell their homes to sell them to the federal government, according to The Times Record in Brunswick. Fishman will be responsible for listing the properties in the program and getting them sold. Fishman officials told the paper that the program will help stabilize the housing market in the Brunswick area when the base closes in 2011, with most of the personnel scheduled to leave in 2010.

So far, five homes in the area already have been sold to the federal government through the assistance program, which was launched here last fall, according to the paper.

One in every 2,710 Maine single-family homes was in at least one stage of foreclosure in July, an almost two-fold increase from the same month last year.

During July, there were 255 foreclosure filings — default notices, auction sale notices and bank repossessions — reported in Maine, a 104% increase from July 2007, according to RealtyTrac, a California company that tracks foreclosures. July’s foreclosure filings, however, represent a 7.6% decrease from June.

Nationally, there were foreclosure filings reported on 272,171 U.S. properties during July, an 8% increase from the previous month and a 55% increase from July 2007. The report also shows one in every 464 U.S. households received a foreclosure filing during the month.

Source - Mainebiz.biz

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 Here’s a summary included in REALTOR Magazine Online (8/7/08) - “The housing-stimulus package that became law last week took a bite out of the home-sale exclusions for second-home owners.  Under both the previous and the current law, most homeowners can sell their primary residence and exclude as much as $250,000 of the gain if they’re single or $500,000 if they are married and file jointly.  To qualify for the full exclusion, owners typically must have owned the home and used it as their primary residence for at least two of the five years prior to the sale. In the new law, which takes effect Jan. 1 and affects property acquired after 2008, owners can’t exclude the gain from the sale of the home allocated to periods of  ‘nonqualified use.’ That refers to any period (after the end of 2008) when the property isn’t used by the owner, spouse or former spouse as a principal residence. For example, a married couple buys a home Jan. 1, 2009, for $600,000 to hold as an investment. On Jan. 1, 2012, three years later, they begin using it as their principal residence. They live there for two years and sell the property on Jan. 1, 2014, for $1.1 million for a profit of $500,000. Under the old law, they would have been able to exclude the entire $500,000 gain from their taxable income. But under the new law, they could exclude only two-fifths of the gain, or $200,000, since the other three-fifths would be considered attributable to the three years the home wasn’t their principal residence. Source: The Wall Street Journal, Tom Herman (08/06/2008)”