2015 - Looking Back and Watching the Future - By Rick Yost

One of the most common questions a realtor gets asked is "How is the market?"

It is truly a question that everyone is interested in. Most major news outlets will give you tons of broad based data about nationwide trends and historical data, but real estate is local. What is happening in The San Francisco market effects the California data and the nationwide data, but it doesn't really effect the Windham area data or market. So, the national numbers are a little difficult to relate to and not the most telling. With this in mind, I thought I would share some local numbers with you. These numbers are much more relevant to the Windham area market and what we can expect in the next twelve months.

 The numbers include only properties listed on the multiple listing service. Some “For sale by owners” and properties transferred between friends and family members will not be included in these figures. These figures are as of 12/20/2015.

Current listing in the State of Maine - 24,442

Sold listing in the State of Maine in 2015 - 21,043

Current listings in Cumberland County - 2,640

Sold listings in Cumberland County in 2015 - 5,594

Single family homes sold through November

Maine 2014     - 13,153
Maine 2015     - 14,582
Cumberland County 2014 - 3,398
Cumberland County 2015 - 3,867
Raymond 2014 - 69
Raymond 2015 - 77
Windham 2014 - 251
Windham 2015 - 307

In the same time frame in Windham and Raymond, there was a statistical irrelevant number of multi-family and mobile home type properties. The same is true of condos in Raymond. This is due to few of those types of properties existing in those towns. Windham had a fair amount of condo sales with 30 sold in 2014 and 32 sold through November of this year. Higher priced homes did well this year.

Single family homes over $500,000 sold through November

Maine  2014 - 838

Maine  2015 - 944

Cumberland County  2014 - 377

Cumberland County  2015 - 437

Raymond  2014 - 8

Raymond  2015 - 6

Windham  2014 - 8

Windham  2015 - 8

Falmouth  2015 - 89 (just for fun)

While the number of homes sold in a market is a good indicator of how the market is doing, it doesn't tell the whole story. The prices that those homes sell for and the number of days they take to sell is just as important.

Median listing price of single family homes
Cumberland County 2014 - $250,000

Cumberland County 2015 - $259,900

Raymond 2014 - $236,000

Raymond 2015 - $253,000

Windham 2014 - $224,900

Windham 2015 - $224,900

Median selling price of single family homes

Cumberland County 2014 - $244,400

Cumberland County 2015 - $250,000

Raymond 2014 - $220,950

Raymond 2015 - $248,000

Windham 2014 - $214,900

Windham 2015 - $215,000

Median number of days on the market for single family homes

Cumberland County 2014 - 46

Cumberland County 2015 - 31

Raymond 2014 - 77

Raymond 2015 - 53

Windham 2014 - 54

Windham 2015 - 37

These numbers tell us that the local market is pretty good. While home median home prices in Windham did not rise significantly, the number of days it took homes to sell fell. Raymond saw a significant drop in the days on market also. Please don't be fooled by Raymond's higher median list and sold prices compared to Windham. This does not reflect that similar homes in Raymond are more expensive than homes in Windham. It is a reflection of the higher number of low priced homes in the Windham market. Overall, the message that the numbers give is that well priced homes are selling well in the local market.

I believe that inventory will continue to be tight into 2016, prices will rise slightly, and interest rates will rise. I hope this information proves profitable for you in 2016.

 Rick is a Realtor, real estate author, and long time Windham resident. You can reach Rick with all of your real estate questions and needs at rickyost@kw.com.