Town-by-Town Single-Family Home Sales, November

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

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