As we look toward the Spring 2024 Real Estate Market locally, we received encouraging news from the Rhode Island Association of Realtors® that February 2024 saw a rare 13% uptick in the number of existing single-family homes sold as compared with February 2023. For a frame of reference, the trend has been a double-digit downturn year-to-year for the past 12 months with some months seeing as much as a 40% decrease in the number of homes sold. 

February 2024 saw a rare 13% uptick in the number of existing single family homes sold as compared with February 2023.

High February Home Sales May Be An Exception

In fact, 2023 saw the number of existing  homes sold in the US at 4.09 million, this being the lowest number recorded since 1995, when it was 3.85 million. Here in Rhode Island, we saw 443 sales in February with a median sale price of $440,000. Interestingly, if you look back 5 years to February 2019, we saw 532 homes sold with a median sale price of $250,000!

It is believed that this February home sales uptick in RI may be an exception as pending home sales which should close in March and April are down 13.4%, and they are the strongest predictor of existing home sales.

The Condominium Market

The condominium market, on the other hand, rose 39% year over year and pending sales are up 4% as well. It is believed that many first-time home buyers have chosen to purchase condominiums for their first purchase as they have struggled to find single family home inventory. Additionally, the median price of a condominium in Rhode Island is $328,000 still nearly $112,000 less than the median price of a single-family home.

Multi-Family Home Sales

In the multi-family home market, there is more inventory available than of single family or condo properties, but competition remains fierce as sales increased by 7% year over year and the price also rose by almost 16%.  The average price for a multi-family property in RI stands at $520,000.

While there is more available inventory in the multi-family home market than in the single family or condominium markets, competition remains fierce.

If we are looking at available inventory, we talk about it in terms of “absorption rate” or the speed at which all of the available properties would go off the market if we stopped putting properties on the market today. In a balanced market, we have 6 months’ worth of inventory. Today we have 1.3 months…and this is deep into the Seller’s Market category. (Anything more than 6 months indicates a Buyer’s Market and anything less than 6 months indicates a Seller’s Market).

PRO TIP: Anything more than 6 months worth of inventory indicates a Buyer’s Market and anything less than 6 months indicates a Seller’s Market.

Katy’s Bottom Line

Inventory remains tight, but we are entering the Spring market with signs of more inventory hitting this season.

• Price Points remain high due to low inventory.

• Lenders seem to be signaling rates to slowly come down this spring.

• Reach out to Homes By Connect for more information on your specific market questions!

Data Points provided by the Rhode Island Association of Realtors®.