WARWICK - A report released today by the Rhode Island Association of Realtors showed second-quarter condominium sales increased 5.37 percent when compared with sales recorded during the same 2006 quarter, while prices declined 5.93 percent for the same period.

Although days on the market increased – to 98, from 76 during the same quarter last year – condos are still popular among young professionals and first-time homebuyers, said RIAR President Cecile Cohen.

"Condo purchases are taking longer because there's a good supply to pick from at this point," Cohen said in a statement. "But the good news is, sales are not just consistent, they're increasing."

There were 549 condominiums sold during the second quarter, 28 more than in the same 2006 quarter. Meanwhile, the median condo price decreased to $222,000 from $236,000 last year.

For the same period, multi-family homes saw a precipitous drop in sales, as 340 homes were sold, 31.4 percent fewer than in April-June 2006. The median sale price for multi-family homes fell as well, 8.9 percent to $265,000. The time spent on market increased 20 percent to 84 days, tracking the change in condominiums.

Earlier this week, the National Association of Realtors reported that second-quarter sales of existing homes – both single-family and condominiums – fell 4.4 percent year over year in Rhode Island to 17,200, a smaller drop than was found across the nation in the quarter, which experienced a 10.8-percent decrease to 5.9 million homes, or in the Northeast, which saw a 6.8-percent fall to 1.05 million homes.

At the same time, the NAR reported on single-family home prices across the nation by metropolitan area. The Providence-Fall River-New Bedford MSA showed a 0.1-percent decrease in median price to $291,000. That compared with a 1.5-percent drop across the country, as the median price fell to $223,800, and a 0.7-percent increase in the Northeast, as the median single-family home sold for $298,000.

"Since all real estate is local, this report on metro area home prices is more meaningful than our monthly data on national prices, because metro areas are less subject to price distortion that can result from geographic changes in the composition of sales," Lawrence Yun, NAR senior economist, said in the report.

The Rhode Island Association of Realtors has nearly 5,000 member Realtors, who last year were involved in nearly 12,000 transactions totaling $3.95 billion. The RIAR is one of more than 1,800 local boards and associations that comprise the nation’s largest trade association, the National Association of Realtors. To learn more, visit www.riliving.com.