Posted on June 22, 2007
Filed Under General Maine Real Estate, Maine housing statistics | Leave a Comment
As inventory levels continue to escalate throughout the spring season an alarming reduction in transactions levels was seen for the month of May. Total sold transactions for the 4 counties followed in May 2007 was 672 versus 816 in May 2006, an 18% reduction. The Days on Market for all 4 counties jumped significantly, but average sold prices rose in 3 out of the 4 counties. My thoughts: Higher interest rates + market volatility = Uneasy feeling for the short and mid-term market outlook.
Click here to read the full newsletter with housing statistics
or
Click here to sign up for the next issue of the Newsletter
Posted on June 18, 2007
Filed Under General Maine Real Estate, Coastal maine real estate | Leave a Comment
Reading my morning real estate blog posts sent to me by google, this article here re-reminded me a serious problem we as a state must figure out: access to the working waterfront. As parties from away continue to move to the state, people like myself sometimes are perhaps to quick to see the dollar signs that can come with helping parties looking for waterfront and coastal maine property find homes in pristine coastal villages that were once 100% year round populations but now are 50% or more summer populations now. What can we do to balance the influx of parties looking to retire and relocate to Maine while preserving a working waterfront? Awareness is key. Real the article in the begining link and spread the word.
Posted on June 14, 2007
Filed Under General Maine Real Estate | Leave a Comment
Today the house voted 87 to 49 in favor of passing the controversial tax package. Here is a another good article, and it seems the verdict is still very mixed over what the ultimate outcome of this bill will be, beneficial, extremly harmful to Maine real estate or simply a shifting of the burden from one group of taxpayers to another. The sales tax will remain at 5%, the income tax rate will become a flat 6% across the board, real estate transfer taxes will increase but the homestead exemption credit will be increased as well.
Posted on June 13, 2007
Filed Under General Maine Real Estate, Maine real estate law | Leave a Comment
Reading about this on a fellow Maine bloggers website I thought it worthwhile posting on my site as well. Here is the link to the article. A brief overview is that it stops two major problems: That of “Equity Stripping” and hybrid loans that start of at low rates and then accelerate quickly forcing the howeowner to refinance and thus pay more closing costs. For the Maine real estate world I believe this to be a great step towards ensuring our industry remains fair and ethical.
Posted on June 10, 2007
Filed Under General Maine Real Estate, Maine real estate law | Leave a Comment
As with any legislature compromise I personally believe was found. Here are the proposed changes to the transfer tax that were voted on 11-2 in favor by the taxation committee given that before is was $4.40 per $1000 for all Maine real estate transfers:
.6% or $6 per $1,000 for primary residences $200k or under
.8% or $8 per $1,000 for primary residences $200-400k
1% or $10 per $1,000 for primary residences $400k-1m
1.5% or $15 per $1,000 for any residence $1m or over
And 1% or $10 per $1,000 on all commercial properties and land transfers.
The belief is that these changes will net an additional 43 million for the state coffers. Only time will tell if the increase will have a significant impact on slowing the the housing markets in Maine.
Posted on June 6, 2007
Filed Under General Maine Real Estate, Maine housing statistics | Leave a Comment
Taking my statistics I run for the month and comparing them to the year 2004, I found these results. The level of transactions, not a surprise, were down in all 4 counties with Sagadahoc seeing the largest drop, 34%. York county had the smallest decrease down 10%. Price increases were the highest however in coastal Sagadahoc at 27% for the 3 year period and the smallest in Lincoln at a measly 2%, both Cumberland and York saw about 10% increases for the 3 year period.
Posted on May 31, 2007
Filed Under General Maine Real Estate, Maine investment real estate, Portland Maine real estate, Maine real estate news | Leave a Comment
Inventory, Pricing, Demand
Statistics for April show the continued trends of rising inventories yet increasing prices, a quandary for traditional Supply/Demand economics. Prices were up in 3 out of the 4 counties followed with a 6.7% increase in Cumberland. The number of properties sold increased in Lincoln and York, remained flat in Sagadahoc but saw a strong decline in Cumberland partially attributed to the Portland younger buyer’s inability to secure loans due to increasingly stringent lending practices for higher risk financing. A general sense of “blah” seems to have clouded the markets in April, yet investor and consumer sentiment seem to point toward improving market conditions for late spring.
Read the entire Maine Newsletter here.
Posted on May 26, 2007
Filed Under General Maine Real Estate | Leave a Comment
Maine real estate sale were down 12.2% in April from a year ago according to the Maine Associatation f Realtors. Median sales prices increased by 5.9% to $201,00 from $190,000. For the nation as a whole according to the National Association or Realtors, the median existing single-family home price dipped 0.9% to $220,500 in April. For the Northeast region, sales were down 8.8% on average and the median existing single-family home price was $283,600, down 0.6%. See the complete press release here.
Posted on May 24, 2007
Filed Under General Maine Real Estate, Maine investment real estate, Maine real estate development | Leave a Comment
Trying to think what interests people and having just done a bike tour searching out multi units in and around the East End of Portland, the love of food coupled with the desire for lucrative investments in Maine real estate I thought perhaps a brief commentary on how I feel the local region surround the behemouth will fare over the coming years was a good subject for conversation. Driving down 295 one can’t help but notice the beacon of development Whole Foods represents. Coupled with the newer Planet fitness next door, the Back Cove a stones throw away and the push of the city to redevelop the bayside area, the real estate, although a little rough around the edges has great potential I believe. The brick warehouses on Kennebec streed I envision as loft condos, the single family and duplexes on streets such as Alder, Oxford, Chestnut, Hanover and Elm to name a few, shall be bought, renovated and brought back to their original splendor and the removal and infill of the local junk yards and city of Portland public works buildings will bring larger mixed used retail, commercial and residential proprety. The area is ripe for improvement, keep an eye on it.
Posted on May 16, 2007
Filed Under General Maine Real Estate, Maine investment real estate | Leave a Comment
As the residential real estate markets continue to undergo tumultous times, what has been happening in investment properties in Maine. In Portland the current inventory of multi units has grown to around 90-95 properties after hovering around 80 to 85 for the past many months. Here are some recent statistics on the current inventory levels and pricing of smaller mulit unit properties on the East and West end.
Current Inventory levels as of 5/15/07
East End
Total Avg List Price Per/Unit DOM
2 Unit 4 276 138 110
3 Unit 7 397 132 38
4 Unit 4 421 105 41
5 Plus 3 100
West End
Total Avg List Price Per/Unit DOM
2 Unit 8 349 175 110
3 Unit 5 334 111 38
4 Unit 4 414 104 41
5 Plus 7 83
