Single-family home sales in Rhode Island continued to edge toward equilibrium, in November, meaning that the number of sales increased at an accelerated rate, while the inventory of houses on the market continued to go down. The median sales price continued to go down, too, but its rate of decrease remained steady.

These trends are of the most recent twelve months compared with the corresponding twelve months the year before.  The data derives from a local real estate tool available on the Web site of William Raveis Real Estate.

As the state’s economy improves (if it improves), more demand should keep sales increasing, while the moderating inventory leaves fewer options, thus driving sales prices back up.  At the moment, the market appears still to be seeking the bottom at which sellers don’t have to continue lowering prices.  That’s the case in nine cities and towns, although as the size of the town decreases, the less reliable the numbers are, because individual cases can skew them so much.

The shaded cells in the following table mark results that point in the direction that is, in general, not desirable. This is the first month since I began collecting these numbers in July that none of the cells in the sales change column are shaded.

Rhode Island Cities and Towns Single-Family Home Sales, Twelve Months Ending in November, 2011 to 1012

	Sales	Sales change (%)	Inventory change (%)	Median sales price change (%)
Rhode Island	7,919	20.1	-10.1	-5.1
Barrington	236	9.3	-14.5	-10.8
Bristol	129	15.2	-10.6	-3.8
Burrillville	135	27.4	-9.8	2.4
Central Falls	17	54.5	33.3	-15.7
Charlestown	142	32.7	-11.5	-8.3
Coventry	398	34.0	-18.0	-2.4
Cranston	652	21.0	-16.3	-4.6
Cumberland	297	12.9	-14.4	-6.6
East Greenwich	177	40.5	3.9	-3.1
East Providence	329	23.2	-14.3	-7.1
Exeter	59	25.5	-13.3	-4.6
Foster	46	31.4	-35.0	12.6
Glocester	91	4.6	-12.5	-4.3
Hopkinton	79	43.6	5.8	-21.7
Jamestown	66	4.8	-9.8	14.7
Johnston	244	9.4	-21.6	-2.5
Lincoln	153	20.5	-0.8	1.7
Little Compton	37	32.1	-18.6	-1.0
Middletown	124	27.8	1.8	-6.8
Narragansett	222	65.7	-15.5	4.2
Newport	176	19.7	-20.5	2.9
North Kingstown	230	5.5	0.5	-0.3
North Providence	266	26.1	-21.1	-6.8
North Smithfield	91	11.0	-12.2	-1.1
Pawtucket	333	8.1	-16.3	-6.2
Portsmouth	164	19.7	1.2	-5.9
Providence	650	26.0	-13.7	-1.4
Richmond	80	14.3	-11.5	-7.5
Scituate	87	31.8	-6.1	-23.4
Smithfield	117	6.4	-6.9	4.0
South Kingstown	302	18.0	1.6	1.9
Tiverton	129	18.3	0.6	-12.0
Warren	64	25.5	-5.3	-8.7
Warwick	958	12.2	-10.2	-4.7
West Greenwich	52	33.3	5.0	-22.0
West Warwick	219	27.3	-14.0	-11.4
Westerly	220	25.0	2.5	3.3
Woonsocket	148	14.7	-3.8	-8.9

 

The Downward Spiral Index that I’ve been compiling — sales change minus inventory change plus median price change — is a bit of a misnomer, at this point, inasmuch as no cities or towns are in negative territory, but the five worst-performing communities are the following (with October’s rank in parentheses):

1. North Kingstown (6)
2. Central Falls (1)
3. Tiverton (3)
4. West Greenwich (4)
5. Woonsocket (2)

The following are the top 5 communities on the desirable side of the index:

1. Narragansett (2)
2. Foster (1)
3. Little Compton (8)
4. Coventry (4)
5. Newport (3)

The other angle that I’ve been taking to present these numbers is an index of the time that houses have spent on the market before being sold and the ratio of average sales price to average asking price. It’s important to note that this ratio isn’t the sales price compared with the asking price for the actual property sold.  Rather, it’s the sales price compared with the asking prices of houses still on the market.

Last month, the average time on the market statewide was 95 days, with the sale-list ratio as 59.9%, so the improvement by this measure has been very slight.

Rhode Island Cities and Towns Single-Family Home Sales, Time on Market and Average Sales Price to Average List Price Ratio, November 2012

	Market time (days)	Sale-list ratio (%)
Rhode Island	94	60.0
Barrington	68	44.9
Bristol	189	60.0
Burrillville	107	101.6
Central Falls	41	70.4
Charlestown	69	71.4
Coventry	80	80.4
Cranston	85	83.2
Cumberland	95	76.9
East Greenwich	89	73.3
East Providence	86	77.7
Exeter	191	64.0
Foster	52	75.7
Glocester	21	60.6
Hopkinton	98	45.9
Jamestown	146	38.4
Johnston	78	84.6
Lincoln	94	54.2
Little Compton	197	143.9
Middletown	111	35.8
Narragansett	160	70.6
Newport	120	41.9
North Kingstown	91	70.5
North Providence	82	80.9
North Smithfield	96	59.2
Pawtucket	100	86.2
Portsmouth	135	62.1
Providence	80	79.3
Rhode Island	94	60.0
Richmond	51	63.4
Scituate	104	80.8
Smithfield	62	62.5
South Kingstown	84	64.8
Tiverton	165	42.4
Warren	60	117.4
Warwick	72	72.9
West Greenwich	83	51.3
West Warwick	100	71.3
Westerly	131	54.7
Woonsocket	103	90.7