Sales of single-family existing homes in Maine remain stable and healthy. The Maine Association of Realtors reported a 7.87 percent increase in sales during the month of January 2017 (compared to January 2016). Realtors across the state sold 959 homes, with a median sales price (MSP) of $190,000. The MSP indicates that half of the homes were sold for more and half sold for less.

National sales of single-family homes rose 3.7 percent in the past year. According to the National Association of Realtors, the national MSP for those homes reached $230,400 in January—an increase of 7.3 percent. Regionally, sales in the Northeast were up 6.7 percent and the regional MSP increased 2.5 percent to $253,800.

“In many markets across Maine, buyers need more housing inventory,” says 2017 Maine Association of Realtors President Greg Gosselin, owner broker of Gosselin Realty Group in York. “Statewide, the inventory of ‘for-sale homes’ is 24 percent lower than this time a year ago.

“Mortgage interest rates remain historically low, households have confidence in their job security, and buyers are searching now in anticipation of moving this spring. The time is right to place your home on the market.”

In Lincoln County, the number of existing, single-family homes sold (units) and volume (MSP) during the rolling quarter of November through January 2016-2017 increased 22.o3 percent over the same period last year -- 144 units sold compared to 118 in 2015-2016 -- and the median sales price also increased 12.52 percent, from $196,500 to $221,111.