PORTLAND, Maine — Single-family home sales rose more than 13 percent in February compared to the same month in 2014, a sharp rise for the month that’s typically the state’s slowest for home sales.
The increase in sales volume paired with a rise in median sales prices, according to figures from the Maine Realtors Association. Median sale prices rose through most of 2013 and stayed even or declined for most of last year.
Marie Flaherty, president of the Maine Association of Realtors, said a slight increase in median prices for December, January and February signal that the market is stabilizing.
“This is an indication of how cautious buyers have been, compared to past recovering markets,” Flaherty said.
A total of 732 Maine homes changed hands in February, up from 646 one year earlier. The median price rose to $167,400 for the month, up from $160,000 one year earlier.
Maine’s rise in home sales and prices followed increases at the national and regional levels. Nationally, home sales rose 5.9 percent; in New England, 3.6 percent. The national median sales price rose 8.2 percent to $204,200; in New England, that price was up 3.3 percent to $241,800.
Flaherty said the strong February and continuing low interest rates bode well for the spring.
Interest rates are still at historic lows following the recession that started in late 2007, but experts began speculating last week that the Federal Reserve will raise the cost for banks to borrow money as early as June.
That change would have a more pronounced effect, however, on variable-rate mortgages or shorter-term forms of borrowing, like credit cards.
Mortgage rates are more closely tied to 10-year U.S. Treasury bond interest rates, which The Associated Press reported have remained low amid high demand from investors, particularly in Europe.