Maine home sales continue to cool in June
AUGUSTA, Maine –As further evidence of Maine’s cooling housing market, home sales dropped 17 percent in June, usually a busy sales period, according to the Maine Association of Realtors.
All told, 265 fewer single-family homes were sold compared to the same period a year ago, but the median sale price edged up slightly, reaching $199,950, up a half a percent, according to the association.
The statistics reflect the national trend of slowing home sales.
Sales of new homes dropped 6.6 percent last month and sales of existing homes dropped dropping 3.8 percent, according to the U.S. Commerce Department.
Marc Chadbourne, owner of Century 21 Nason Realty in Winslow and president of the Maine Real Estate Information System Inc., said the dip shows that the market is correcting itself after several years of fast-growing home prices.
“The last two or three years have been boom years,” he said. “That type of activity is not sustainable. Like any market … things tend to go up and then go down and correct themselves, and that’s what we’re seeing.”