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Rhode Island
Rhode Island single-family homes nearing $500,000 median sales price
Home Buying
Homes in Rhode Island sold for a median price of $485,000 in September, which is $30,000 more than last year.
It cost buyers $30,000 more to purchase a single-family home in Rhode Island in September than it did last fall, according to a report the state’s realtor association released Thursday.
The median sales price for a single-family home in Rhode Island was $485,000 in September, which reflects a 6.6 percent year-over-year increase.
Soaring home prices, mortgage rates that are at their highest level in two months, and a lack of inventory have put a damper on sales. “Closed sales fell by 3 percent, and pending sales … also dropped by 2.2 percent,” according to the report.
The inventory of homes “continues to creep upward” but is “still critically low,” according to the association. The state had a 2.4-months’ supply of homes on the market in September. A healthy market has at least a five.
“Each month since January 2022, pending sales have fallen compared to the previous year, a sign that housing affordability is not improving in Rhode Island,” Sally Hersey, president of the Rhode Island Association of Realtors, said in a news release. “The median sales price of single-family homes has risen year over year every month since January 2017. We desperately need to build more housing.”
Home buyers who are turning to the condo market to fulfill the American dream of homeownership shelled out nearly $48,000 more last month for a unit than they did in September 2023. The median sales price of $427,450 last month was a record and reflected a 12.52 percent year-over-year increase. Sales were down 5.3 percent, but the inventory got a bump; it’s up 31 percent year over year.
“We haven’t yet seen much of an effect from the Federal Reserve’s September rate cut on Rhode Island’s housing market. Our main problem continues to be supply. The Realtor Association is committed to supporting all viable legislative initiatives that can help in that regard in the 2025 legislative session,” Hersey said.
Some buyers purchase multifamily homes to cover their mortgages. They live in one unit and rent out the other/s. That endeavor gets more challenging by the month. The median sales price for a multifamily in Rhode Island “skyrocketed to a record $595,000” in September, an increase of nearly 25 percent.
Buyers still in the game had more listings to consider. The inventory in Rhode Island’s multifamily market increased 7.4 percent compared to September 2023.
In a drilldown into single-family home prices, the report noted that Washington County — home to Block Island, North Kingstown, and South Kingstown, among other high-income enclaves — the median sales price for a single-family home ($700,000) jumped 19.66 percent in September. The median sales price in September 2023 was a more palatable $585,000.
Providence County, home to the capital, the median sales price rose a more modest 8.64 percent to $440,000.
The only county that saw a price drop was Bristol. The median sales price of $622,753 reflects a 17.52 decrease, but that is based on only 34 sales. Compare that to Washington County (111 sales) and Providence County (345). Fewer sales can skew the results.
