Tight housing inventory statewide led to a decrease in sales of Maine’s existing single-family homes in March while prices increased by double digits from a year earlier, according to the Maine Association of Realtors.

The association reported Monday that 1,156 homes changed hands in March, down 2.8 percent from 1,189 homes in March 2017.

With a limited supply of homes available for purchase, the statewide median home sale price in March shot upward by 11 percent from a year earlier to $212,000. The median price indicates that half of the homes were sold for more money and half sold for less.

“We’re seeing upward movement on median sales prices as a result of tight markets in many areas of Maine,” Kim Gleason, president of the Maine Association of Realtors and broker/owner of McAllister Real Estate in Hallowell, said in a statement. “For-sale inventory is down 16 percent compared to March 2017 and 39 percent below the for-sale inventory of March 2016. Realtors from all over Maine report that buyers are anxiously ready and waiting for homes to be listed, and sellers are pleased with the pace and pricing in the market.”

For the three-month period ending March 31, home sales statewide were down about 0.5 percent from a year earlier, while the median sale price of $202,500 was up by 8.9 percent from the same three-month period of 2017, the association said.

The biggest increase in home sales for the three-month period was in Androscoggin County, where sales rose by 13 percent from a year earlier. The biggest decrease was in Knox County, where sales fell by 13.3 percent from the same period of 2017.

The biggest increase in median price for the three-month period was in Piscataquis County, where the median price rose by 63.9 percent from a year earlier to $118,000. The biggest price decrease was in Lincoln County, where the median price fell by over 4.4 percent to $215,000.

Nationally, home sales decreased by 1 percent in March compared with a year earlier, and the median sale price increased by almost 6 percent to $252,100, according to the National Association of Realtors.

Regionally, sales in the Northeast were down 9.3 percent from a year earlier, and the regional median sale price increased by 3.3 percent to $270,600, it said.

J. Craig Anderson can be contacted at 791-6390 or at:

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