For the sixth straight month, Maine saw more homes go up for sale in August.
Buyers closed deals on 1,712 homes in August, a 9.9% jump, compared with the 1,557 sold in August 2024, according to the Maine Association of Realtors.
Meanwhile, the median sales price for a Maine home rose about 2.4% to $409,450, compared with $400,000 in August 2024.
Jeff Harris, the president of the Maine Association of Realtors and a broker with Farmington-based Harris Real Estate, said Thursday that the housing market is showing signs of “shifting more into balance.”
He noted that the number of homes currently for sale is the highest seen since October 2020.
“Potential home buyers in Maine have more options than they have had over the past five years,” Harris said.
Meanwhile, national sales rose a more modest 2.5% year over year, while the median sales price rose 2% to $427,800, according to the National Association of Realtors.
In the Northeast, sales actually fell 2%, compared with a year earlier, but the median sales price rose 6.2% to $534,200.
On the county level in Maine, the most significant increase in median home prices for the three-month period ending Aug. 31 was in Hancock County, where it rose 9.9% to $445,000, compared with the same period last year. Androscoggin and Penobscot counties also saw notable increases in sale prices, 8.1% and 4.8%, respectively. The highest median home price during that period was in Cumberland County, where it reached $616,000.
The median home price fell most sharply in Sagadahoc County, where it was down 7.7%. Aroostook had the lowest median home price overall ($178,450).
On the sales front, Lincoln County saw the largest sales bump over the three-month period ending Aug. 31, increasing 28.8%. It was followed by Knox (20.8%), Aroostook (20.4%) and Washington (18.%) counties. Sales fell most sharply for that period in Hancock, Penobscot and Somerset counties, where they are down 8.8%, 3.3% and 1.2%, respectively.
