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The number of homes for sale nationwide climbed in May over the previous year for the first time since 2019, a national trend that may reverberate throughout Maine’s housing market.
A typical day in May saw 516,000 homes for sale, 38,000 more than in May 2021, according to a report released this week by Realtor.com. That is the first time any increase has happened nationally from the same month the previous year since June 2019.
The report attributed the increase in total listings to slower buyer demand caused by a spike in interest rates and increasingly high listing prices. Still, the number of homes available, over 1 million nationally in January 2020, has dropped since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.
An increase in inventory at the national level could be a harbinger of things to come in Maine, where supply has been sparse and demand high. There are already signs that the housing market in the state is cooling, including falling sales and less competition for listings.
The report is in line with recent market movements and statewide data. There was a “slight uptick” in March and April listing, Maine Association of Realtors President Madeleine Hill said last month.
Even if inventory is going up nationally, other trends paint a more pessimistic picture for buyers. The median asking price for a home rose to a new high of $447,000, while the typical time on market was at a new low of 31 days.
Some of the largest decreases in active listings this month came in the Miami, Virginia Beach and Richmond metro areas. There were increases in many other areas, including the metro areas of Austin, Phoenix and Sacramento.
The most recent data from late April on Zillow listed 895 homes for sale that month in the Portland metro area, 285 in the Bangor metro area, 140 in the Lewiston area and 213 in the Augusta area. Bangor had the highest number of total listings that month per capita with 18.7 per 10,000 people, followed by Augusta, Portland and Lewiston.
