Maine home sales and prices fell in March

By Christopher Burns, Bangor Daily News Staff

The Maine home market is taking a turn decidedly in buyers’ favor, with home sales and prices falling.

Buyers closed deals on 848 homes in March, a 6.2 percent drop compared with the 904 sold in March 2024, according to the Maine Association of Realtors.

Meanwhile, the median sales price for a Maine home fell by about 1 percent to $376,260, compared with $380,000 in March 2024.

Jeff Harris, the president of the Maine Association of Realtors and a broker with Farmington-based Harris Real Estate, said that there are now more homes on the market and they are waiting for buyers even longer. Last month, the average time a home sat on the market was 22 days, up from 15 days a year ago and nine days in March 2022.

“For many markets, the pace is becoming more reasonable for buyers,” Harris said.

Meanwhile, national sales fell 2.2 percent year over year, while the median sales price rose 2.9 percent to $408,000, according to the National Association of Realtors.

In the Northeast, sales remain unchanged, compared with a year earlier, while the median sales price rose 7.7 percent to $468,000.

On the county level in Maine, the most significant increase in median home prices for the three-month period ending March 31 was in Hancock County, where it rose 15.6 percent to $425,000, compared with the same period last year. Oxford, Penobscot and Waldo counties also saw notable increases in sale prices, 12.5 percent, 9.9 percent and 9.4 percent, respectively. The highest median home price during that period was in Cumberland County, where it reached $550,000.

The median home price fell most sharply in Piscataquis County, where it was down 14 percent. Aroostook had the lowest median home price overall ($142,550), down 7.1 percent from the same period in 2024.

On the sales front, Waldo County saw the largest sales bump over the three-month period ending March 31, increasing 81.6 percent. It was followed by Piscataquis (21.7 percent) and Lincoln (19.4 percent) counties. Sales fell most sharply for that period in Androscoggin County, where they are down 21 percent, followed by Franklin (13.1 percent), Oxford (12.9 percent) and Sagadahoc (12.7 percent) counties.