Portland’s single-family market continues upward price trend, while condos and multis lag in April
Portland, ME – Single family sales continue to lead the way in a strong Portland real estate market. In comparison to the recording breaking spring of 2021, statistics for April 2022 show continued price increases for single family homes, while condos and multi-unit buildings saw decreases in price, sales, and listings.
Single Families
Like in March of this year, there was continued growth and price appreciation for Portland single families. Q1 2022 showed a median sale price of $450,500, March came in at $476,500, and April another increase to $500,000. Number of sales is up for the second month in a row, and April shows a 41% increase in sales over 2021. “There has been a clear shift with more listings coming on,” said Tom Landry. He said to expect more listings in May and June as well. He attributes this to three things, the dwindling of the pandemic, continued record-setting sales, and underlying anxiety that a peak is looming. “Sellers see the sales numbers their neighbors are getting and are worried that inflation and geopolitical tensions could drive those numbers down later this year.” Days on market have remained low for the better part of the past year, indicating that demand continues to outpace supply. Landry thinks this trend is likely to continue given that new listings, what will become May and June sales, dropped for the second month in a row, March down 7% and April down 15% over 2022. “There’s lots of evidence that if someone is thinking of selling, right now might be the ideal time. We could be reaching a peak.”
Condos
In contrast to single families, the April condo numbers are down over last year and over the past several months of 2022. The only increase is in price per square foot. This will likely continue as there are few new projects ready to close in 2022. However, with several sizable new construction projects scheduled to close 2023, Landry said to expect a significant rebound in these numbers. “Portland’s condominium
market hasn’t softened,” he said. “This segment of the market has always highly volatile and subject to significant supply and sale price fluctuations.” He said for those looking to sell a condo, they will have very little competition in the months ahead.
Multi-families
Landry said that multi families continue to be a challenging segment to analyze. “Multis represent buildings from two to 100 plus units. While large buildings continue to lag, the market is very different for buildings with only a handful of units.” He said these smaller buildings make up the majority of Portland’s multi-family housing and haven’t been nearly as impacted by the value decrease brought on by rent control as larger buildings. “Many of these smaller multis continue to be an alternative to single families or condos for the owner-occupied buyer,” said Landry. He added that he and his team would likely focus future analyses on this segment only. When added all together however, multi-family sales are down; 13% in March and 10% in April over 2021. However, price per unit is up, 18% in the first quarter and 10% in April vs this time last year. “This is one of the very best indicators of value and strength of the market. If people are paying more per unit, values are increasing,” Landry commented. “To summarize,” said Landry. “we expect May and June to see more record shattering prices for single families, existing condos to sell quickly given limited options, and smaller multis to sell for higher prices per/unit.” He said that buyers can expect to see a lot of new listings too.
The statistics below were prepared by Benchmark Real Estate using data from Maine Listings.
Highest & Lowest Sales of April 2022
Based on information from the Maine Real Estate Information System, Inc. (d/b/a Maine Listings) for the period Apr. 2021 through Apr. 2022. © 2022 Maine Listings.
