The value of Maine real estate continued to increase in February despite a sharp decline in sales, according to the Maine Association of Realtors.

The association reported a 12.5 percent jump in the median sale price for existing, detached single-family homes in February compared with a year earlier, bringing the statewide median price to $180,000. The median indicates that half of the homes were sold for more and half sold for less.

However, homes sales volume declined by 12.9 percent statewide. Bad weather was a major factor, association President Greg Gosselin said.

“The February 2017 data was impacted by a 10-day period of record-breaking snow and a comparison to a Leap Year in 2016, adding an extra day of sales back then,” said Gosselin, broker and owner of Gosselin Realty Group in York. “However, the rolling-quarter statistics indicate continuing strong real estate sales and value trends throughout Maine.”

The association tracks changes in home sales volume and median price on a rolling, three-month basis for Maine and its individual counties. Statewide, sales volume was up 3.1 percent from the previous year for the three-month period ending Feb. 28. The median price for the period was $185,000 – up 7.8 percent from a year earlier.

The biggest countywide increase in sales for the three-month period was in York County, where sales volume increased by 27.8 percent compared with a year earlier. The biggest decrease was in Sagadahoc County, where sales were down 22.1 percent.

Somerset County had the biggest increase in median price for the three-month period, up 57.1 percent from a year earlier to $110,000. The only decrease in median price was in Knox County, where the median fell 3.3 percent from a year earlier to $183,750.

According to the National Association of Realtors, sales of single-family homes nationwide rose 5.8 percent in February compared with the previous year. The national median sale price of $229,900 represented a 7.6 percent jump from February 2015.

Regionally, single-family home sales in the Northeast increased by 1.5 percent in February, while the median price rose 4.1 percent to $250,200.

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

[email protected]

Twitter: @jcraiganderson

Send questions/comments to the editors.

filed under: