Fewer homes in Penobscot and Waldo counties have sold in the last three months compared with this time last year — despite sale volumes rising nearly everywhere else in Maine.
Penobscot County saw 426 single family homes sell in the past three months, which marks a 2.5 percent slide from the 437 houses that sold this time last year, according to a monthly report from the Maine Association of Realtors.
In Waldo County, 119 houses changed hands from May 1 to July 31 compared with 128 sales in the same time period last year — a seven percent drop, the association reported.
Despite the slight drop in sale volumes, the average price of a house in both regions rose by roughly four percent over last year. The average price of a home in Penobscot and Waldo counties now sits at $295,000 and $380,000, respectively.
Numbers from the two counties don’t reflect the trend of rising home sales happening in most other Maine counties, the Maine Association of Realtors reported. Hancock, Knox and Oxford counties were the only others that saw the number of homes sold drop.
In July alone, 1,570 homes changed hands statewide, which is five percent more than July 2024, the association said.
July also marked the fifth consecutive month in which the number of Maine homes for sale grew, according to Jeff Harris, Maine Association of Realtors president and a broker at Harris Real Estate in Farmington.
The number of homes on the market in Maine climbed to more than 5,300, Harris said, which is the most since October 2020.
“With more homes for sale, buyers can be more discerning,” Harris said in a statement. “We’re seeing that some sellers are adjusting their original pricing downward to entice buyer interest.”
In addition to more homes selling year-over-year, the median price of a Maine home reached nearly $420,00, which is roughly five percent more than July 2024, according to the association.
