Sale Prices Improve in 18 of RI's 39 Municipalities

Statewide, the year to date number of transactions for all properties is up 16.78% from the same time period last year, while the median sale price is down 7.14% to $162,500. However, not all areas saw decreases. In fact, 18 of Rhode Island’s 39 cities and towns, saw sale prices improve. This is based on data from RIAR’s Statewide MLS system for all properties types from January 1 to May 31 for both 2011 and 2012. Here are some tidbits we found. The median sale price was up from the year prior in 11 towns—Burrillville, Coventry, Foster, Glocester, Hopkinton, Jamestown, Little Compton, Narragansett, New Shoreham, North Smithfield, and Westerly. Although New Shoreham (32.46%), Foster (29.13%), and Jamestown (27.28%) saw double digit appreciation, these numbers may not be as significant as they seem, since those areas only had a limited number of transactions (less than 20). The average sale price increased in 15 municipalities, and dramatically so in areas like Newport (19.45%), Westerly (17.59%), Providence (17.12%), and North Kingstown (14.86%). Still, the median sale price in these areas stayed mainly stagnant, suggesting that properties in the higher end of the market are starting to sell. The decreasing statewide median (-7.14%) and average sale price (-3.36%) brings into focus how a statewide number mitigates the positive in some some areas. The decrease largely reflects denser residential areas like Cranston, Central Falls, East Providence, Pawtucket, Warwick, and West Warwick, which have seen the impact of the foreclosure and short sale inventory being worked through the market system. Those towns should start to see a turnaround as that inventory is now reported to be at much lower levels, and we will follow the data through the end of the year. At that point the numbers will be more meaningful for all cities and towns and will probably smooth over some of the anomalies. We have charted the complete list of Rhode Island communities with their corresponding average and median price developments for your convenience. We have grouped the data by community, so choose a set from the drop down menu to view prices for that region.