Portland ME Real Estate Year in Review 2009

The housing markets in Portland Maine finished out the 2009 year on a very strong note with prices leveling out, transaction volume rising, inventories decreasing and the Days on Market average holding steady.  A total of 586 Portland Maine residential real estate transactions transpired in 2009 compared with 641 in 2008, a drop of about 9% year over year.  The median sold price for all these transactions was 209K compared with 219K in 2008.  No drop is a good one, but the greater Portland region as a whole lost about 10% of its value in 2009 thus Portland was well above the mean.

Going forward I am optimistic we shall see a strong first half of the year once all parties recover from the holiday season hangover, but as the  first time home buyer tax credit expires and interest rates inevitably begin rising the 2nd half of the year may see some cooling off in the Southern Maine real estate markets.

Thanks for reading.