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Home prices soar in a sluggish Rhode Island market

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Home prices soar in a sluggish Rhode Island market


Spring House Hunt

If you are looking for a condo as your first step into homeownership or your housing type of choice as you downsize, the number of listings is up but so are prices.

The median sales price of a single-family property in Providence alone was up nearly 11%. Jonathan Wiggs/Globe staff/file 2022

The median sales price for a single-family home in Rhode Island jumped 11.4% year over year in March to $440,000, the state’s realtors association reported Thursday.

For Massachusetts home seekers looking for a break in the Ocean State, the seas are nearly just as stormy. Single-family home prices in both states jumped by double digits between March 2023 and March 2024, according to the Rhode Island Association of Realtors.

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The medial sales price of a single-family home in Providence, for example, climbed from $337,250 to $373,750 in March, a 10.82% jump. In Lincoln, the increase was more severe from, $410,000 to $560,000, a rise of 36.59%.

“The available supply of homes remains critically low going into the spring selling season,” the report reads. “At the current inventory level and pace of sales in March, all single-family homes on the market would be sold in less than one month, far less than the five to six months seen during a market balanced between supply and demand.”

Home sales fell by 4.9%, and sales “in process but not completed by the end of March fell by 7.2%, an indication that market activity will remain slow” for the rest of April, the report says.

“Sales could remain hampered through the spring market thanks to the recent news that the Federal Reserve reported an uptick in inflation in March, which means no immediate cuts to mortgage rates,” said Sally Hersey, association president. “On the positive side, a recent rise in mortgage rates may help increase inventory, which is desperately needed.”

High mortgage rates affect the buyer’s side, because some will no longer qualify for the home they want or they will opt to sit on the sidelines, Hersey told Boston.com.

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Rhode Island condo market

If you are looking for a condo as your first step into homeownership or your housing type of choice as you downsize, the number of listings is up but so are prices.

Calling Rhode Island’s condo market the “outlier,” the report noted that sales in this category were up 0.81% year over year and that the number of pending sales reflected a 7.6% increase.

Meanwhile, the number of condo units on the market (241) climbed by more than 5%.

The median sales price was also up, and by double digits — from $319,950 to $370,000, a 15.64% increase.

Rhode Island multifamily market

Sales plummeted 19% year over year in March in this category, which is often viewed as a way to own a home and help pay off one’s mortgage. The median sales price rose 18.9%, to $535,000.

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CRMC asks RI Superior Court to force Quidnessett Country Club to take down rock wall

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CRMC asks RI Superior Court to force Quidnessett Country Club to take down rock wall


The Rhode Island Coastal Resources Management Council (CRMC) filed a counterclaim against Quidnessett Country Club in Providence County Superior Court Tuesday. It wants a judge to force the North Kingstown country club to remove the 600-foot stone wall built without permission roughly three years ago.



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Why a Taylor Swift wedding might shut down Westerly streets

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Why a Taylor Swift wedding might shut down Westerly streets


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  • The potential wedding of Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce in Watch Hill, Rhode Island, presents a significant logistical challenge.
  • Transporting celebrity guests would likely occur in three phases: from airports, to wedding events, and back to airports.
  • A large, out-of-state limousine company would probably be needed to handle the transportation for the high-profile event.
  • Using large coach buses would be necessary to move guests to wedding activities and ease traffic in the small village.

As Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce eye possibly getting married at her Watch Hill, Rhode Island, mansion, The Providence Journal is surveying various wedding vendors about what it would take for the Ocean State to host a wedding befitting the most popular woman in the world.

Imagine a crowd of A-list celebrities descending on the village of Watch Hill in Westerly this summer to attend the wedding of mega celebrity Taylor Swift and football star Travis Kelce.

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To Chuck O’Koomian, who owns Airline Express Limousine and Car Service with his wife Ginny Cauley, it’s like a scene out of a horror movie.

“It’s gonna be a logistical nightmare,” O’Koomian told The Providence Journal.

How will guests arrive at Taylor Swift’s wedding in Westerly?

While Swift has not announced when or where her wedding will be, O’Koomian talked about what would be involved in getting a large celebrity crowd to the wedding, if it were held at her Bluff Avenue mansion, the nearby Ocean House resort or the Watch Hill Chapel, where Miss Universe 2012 Olivia Culpo tied the know with football player Christian McCaffrey in 2024.

O’Koomian, who has provided transportation for comedian Jay Leno, who has a home in Newport, said there would be three distinct phases of ground transportation:

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  1. Getting people from airports to their hotels
  2. Getting people from their hotels to the wedding activities
  3. Getting them back to the airports

The middle phase, delivering people to wedding activities, very well may not be just a one-day affair. Many say Swift won’t have a wedding day; they’re expecting a wedding week.

While some guests, especially those in New York or Connecticut, would probably just have their drivers bring them to Westerly, others would fly in by private jets, probably landing at Westerly State Airport or Quonset State Airport, whose military runway is long enough to handle larger jets. From there, guests would need a ride to where they are staying.

What Westerly residents have to say

Folks in Westerly have surmised that, even if it’s not the site of the ceremony or reception, the Ocean House, along with its sister property the Weekapaug Inn, plus several rented, private mansions would be needed to accommodate guests.

O’Koomian expects that a large limousine company – such as Boston Corporate Coach or Carey Limousine, in Massachusetts, or Hy’s Limousine, in Connecticut – with more than 120 cars each, would get the contract to serve Taylor Swift’s wedding. “There’s not even 120 cars in Rhode Island, all the companies combined,” he said, adding that, as a subcontractor, he would hope to get a piece of the business.

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Could a fleet of private cars filled with stars snarl traffic in Westerly?

This first phase of local transportation would involve many trips of smaller parties. “They may come in two, three, four at a time,” he said.

While that is suitable for limousine service, getting from hotels to the ceremony, reception and other events, would require a different strategy for that second phase. “It’s like they’re transporting a football team,” he said.

That would mean “coaches,” the upscale version of buses. They would ease the traffic burden that would be created by limousines ferrying some 300 wedding guests around the tiny village of Watch Hill.

“It’s gonna take a lot of coordination if it’s Westerly,” O’Koomian said. “They’re going to have to shut down half the city. Police would have to shut down streets.”



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Rhode Island man crashes into house in Raynham after apparent medical episode

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Rhode Island man crashes into house in Raynham after apparent medical episode


A car crashed into a home in Raynham Tuesday afternoon.

Police said they responded to a report for a vehicle that crashed into a home shortly before 1 p.m. on Broadway Street.

Officers at the scene said they found a sedan that had crashed into the lower brick portion of the home.

Investigators said a man from Rhode Island appeared to suffer from a medical episode before leaving the roadway and crashing into the home.

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Police said the driver suffered non life-threatening injuries. He was transported to Boston Medical Center – South in Brockton.

Officers said the home was empty at the time of the crash.

The Raynham Building Department responded to assess the home for structural damage.

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The crash is under investigation.



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