Following suit with the Maine home property statistics for southern Maine real estate the statewide sales volume was up 6.74% for Maine in August.  A total of 1,425 homes sold in the month with a median price of 195K, unchanged from a year ago prior.  Nationally home sales dropped by 13% and for the Northeast it was down 3.6%.  Read the complete report right here. 

Despite chaos in the national and local credit and financial markets, Maine posted strong results for the month of August with healthy transaction volume in all 4 counties, increasing 16%  and 11% in York and Cumberland respectively from a year prior.  Average prices were also up in all 4 counties followed as inventories decreased in 3 out of the 4 markets for the first time in many months.  Relocation and retirement buyers throughout the area continue to help Maine fare better than most other parts of the country. See the complete Southern Maine report here.

did you know that Maine has a great program for all those real estate owners as well as renters out there.

For a state considered by many to have property taxes that are disproportionately high, the legislatures in Augusta have created a program that enables one to receive up to $2000 back if these two requirements are met:

1) Income must not exceed $80,750 for a person who lived alone; OR, $105,750 for a person who lived with a spouse and/or dependent(s)
2) Your 2006 property tax must have been more than 4% of your 2006 household income; OR, the rent you paid in 2006 must have been more than 20% of your 2006 household income. Find out more by clicking here

Doing some analysis for a client the other day on the available stock of property in the 500-700K range in the greater Portland Maine real estate markets, specifically Cape Elizabeth, South Portland, Falmouth and the West End, here is what the numbers reveal for average sq footage, cost/sq. footage, taxes and days on market for these high end Southern Maine communities.

                                                                                   Averages 
                          Properties     Sq Footage     Cost/Sq. Foot       Taxes        Days on Market
South Portland         8                  2991               $202                   $5,362          107
West End                7                  3035               $242                   $7,024            85
Falmouth                49                 3100               $212                   $5,675           141
Cape Elizabeth        15                  2674              $239                   $6,315             61

Falmouth has a high number of new construction listings with 20 out of the 49 accounted for not having been built yet. The West End consists primarily of town homes in this price range whilst Cape Elizabeth and South Portland are a mix of older traditional homes coupled with newer contemporary construction.

The lower Mid Coast Maine real estate markets currently have numerous housing projects primarily of the condo variety poised and ready to be built, will it happen, when will it happen?  Points East in Wiscasset, 75 cottages and 160 condo’s coupled with a high end marina,  BathPort in Bath, 24 (I believe) luxury units on the Kennebec River and Popham Woods in Phippsburg, 60 or so units on 100 acres of land clost to Popham Beach all  geared towards the Baby Boomer surge from the South. 2nd homes and retirement homes, the price tags on these units are not cheap, ranging from 300K for a one bedroom unit  to $1,000,000 for the largest and best views these 3 projects represent a trend that will continue if the buyers will buy.  To date it seems the sales of the units have been sluggish from word of mouth and rumor, no facts substantiate this opinion but it is my thoughts that the projects will move forward, perhaps a bit slower than expected, the units will sell, perhaps at lower price tags than currently proposed and parties will continue to relocate and retire to the lower mid-coast regions of this great state.