Realtors: Fewer houses on market drive 2% sales drop in Dec.

SALES OF SINGLE-FAMILY homes in Rhode Island fell 2 percent in December compared with December 2012, according to the Rhode Island Association of Realtors, due in part to the government shutdown last fall and increasingly tight inventories. / BLOOMBERG FILE PHOTO/JACOB KEPLER
SALES OF SINGLE-FAMILY homes in Rhode Island fell 2 percent in December compared with December 2012, according to the Rhode Island Association of Realtors, due in part to the government shutdown last fall and increasingly tight inventories. / BLOOMBERG FILE PHOTO/JACOB KEPLER

WARWICK – Rhode Island single-family homes sales dipped 2 percent in December compared with the same period the previous year, while the median price rose 8 percent, the Rhode Island Association of Realtors said Wednesday.

There were 674 houses sold last month, down from 689 in December 2012.

The $200,000 median price of those December sales climbed from $185,000 in December 2012. It was the 15th consecutive month of year-over-year monthly price increase.

The Realtors Association attributed the sales slowdown in part to the government shutdown last fall and the extremely tight inventory of properties on the market.

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There were 3,907 houses listed for sale in December, the smallest number on the market since 2005.

The December inventory represented a 5.8-month supply of homes, down from a supply of just over six months a month earlier in November. A six-month supply is considered reflective of a balanced market.

The average number of days on the market for single-family properties declined 21 percent year over year in December, from 108 at the end of 2012 to 85 days last month.

In other areas of the market, multi-family building sales plunged 19 percent in December compared with December 2012. There were 104 multi-family properties sold last month compared with 128 in December 2012.

The decline in sales, and particularly the number of distressed sales, helped the median sale price climb 25 percent year over year to $150,000. The median multi-family sale price in December 2012 was $120,250.

Condominium sales fell 4 percent year over year in December, from 121 in December 2012 to 116 last month.

The median condominium sale price also fell, in this case 8 percent, from $200,000 in December 2012 to $183,250 last month.

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