Plenty of housing inventory with demand and prices slumping from their summer peak makes fall the best time to buy property in Maine.
Maine’s housing market is cyclical, where summer brings high inventory and sales followed by fewer homes changing hands in the winter. Fall tends to be the sweet spot for buyers looking for plenty of options at an attainable price, said Angelia Levesque, regional sales director for Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate The Masiello Group.
“Fall in Maine has traditionally been a very active market and in this office alone I know some of my best months have been October,” Levesque said. “If I was looking for a home right now, I’d be excited about the choices that are out there.”
This comes as good news to anyone who has been hoping to buy a home in Maine in recent years, but was scared off by the frenzied housing market during the pandemic that caused prices to skyrocket.
Active inventory in Penobscot County climbed nearly 19% from July to August, bringing the total number of homes for sale to slightly less than 600, Maine Listing data show. More than 100 of those are in Bangor alone, Levesque said.
“I remember during COVID doing a search in Bangor and there were less than 20 homes available,” Levesque said. “If people have the ability to purchase, I think it’s a good time to buy.”
Penobscot County also saw median home prices dip 2% from July to August, bringing the average price of a home to $288,500, according to data from Maine Listings.
Maine’s housing market tends to become less busy after Labor Day, especially for families who want to get moved in before school starts, said Nick Isgro, a Waterville-based broker with Keller Williams.
That slowdown opens an opportunity for prospective buyers to have more time to shop around with less competition, Isgro said.
Isgro isn’t certain Maine’s housing prices will drop across the board this fall and winter, as prices have continued to climb since the pandemic and sellers are still overpricing their homes. However, someone who still has a property on the market in the fall may be more willing to negotiate with a buyer in order to close before the winter holiday season.
“In September there are a lot of homes that hopped on the market in August and for one reason or another haven’t sold,” Isgro said.”Those people in particular are going to want to get moved.”
The combination of strong inventory and plateauing prices also suggests Maine’s real estate market is becoming more balanced, meaning the supply of available homes and those looking to buy them were roughly even, according to Levesque.
That’s a welcome change for buyers, Levesque said, as Maine’s real estate market was a seller’s market — meaning the number of buyers outweighed the number of sellers — for years. That low inventory and high demand led prices to spike.
More homes for sale also allows buyers to be selective and look for a home they love that fits their needs, Levesque said. That’s a stark difference from the pandemic-era housing market when people were buying anything they could get their hands on, even if it wasn’t perfect for them, just to have a place to live.
People felt the push to act quickly in the midst of the pandemic because homes were usually available for only a few days before being scooped up. Now, houses are sitting on the market for longer, Levesque said, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing.
In July, houses in Maine were on the market for an average of 36 days before selling compared with the 12 days they were available in September 2021, according to Redfin.
While inventory levels are returning to what they were before the pandemic, the cost of housing hasn’t rebounded to the same degree. That could be because seemingly more people than ever want to move to and within Maine, which keeps demand high.
“Maine is finally having its moment as the cool kid,” Levesque said. “Everybody wants to come to Maine, which is great, but on the other hand it really did have a big effect.”
Sellers generally want the most money possible for their home, but Levesque said she advises people to work with their real estate agent and set a more realistic price based on several factors, such as the home’s size, amenities and where it’s located.
“During COVID when there were 10 houses, you could say, ‘This is what I want for my house’ and somebody’s probably going to come along and give you that,” Levesque said. “Now, buyers are more educated.”