Rhode Island housing market gets more inventory, more heated

In April, the Rhode Island housing market threw cold water on home shoppers’ dreams of buying a multifamily property as a residence and a way to pay the mortgage.

It’s getting more difficult for someone looking to get their foot into the door of homeownership to compete with cash-in-hand corporate buyers in this sector. This market segment saw “the largest annual increase in the median sales price”: jumping 16.7% to $525,000, according to a report the Rhode Island Association of Realtors released on May 17. “Often attracting investors and cash and financially fit buyers, the multifamily market is rife with competition.”

The cost of a single-family home also rose. The median sales price in this market was $453,000, a 6.6% jump. Compare that with the median sales price in Massachusetts: $610,000. That grows to a whopping $760,000 if the buyer is looking to live in Greater Boston, according to The Warren Group, a real estate analytics firm.

“Despite higher interest rates and prices, pent up buyer demand is bringing buyers back into the market, but more inventory is still desperately needed to accommodate the demand,” said Sally Hersey, president of the Rhode Island real estate group. “That’s why the Rhode Island Association of Realtors supports Speaker Shekarchi’s plan to increase housing units in Rhode Island. More production means more access to homeownership, which is critical to our residents, our communities, and our economy.”

The Globe has reported that the bills Shekarchi has sponsored “are aimed at making it easier for developers to quickly build new housing, creating educational pipelines to fulfill roles of town planners, and finding properties across the state that could be used as the location for a new housing development. Shekarchi also supports Gov. Daniel J. McKee’s proposal to put a $100 million housing bond on the November ballot, according to the report.

All sectors of the market saw an increase in sales and prices in April, part of real estate’s busiest buying season — the Spring House Hunt:

These figures are pulled from the Multiple Listing Service and don’t include off-market deals.

The number of listings also reflected a year-over-year increase:

While that is welcome news, more properties need to come online to meet the demand. “All residential property types continue to suffer a critical shortage of supply, with multifamily homes having the least availability and the condominium market providing the most options, though still limited,” the association reported.

Because what they do list is being snapped up faster:

Compared with April 2023, the median prices for single-family homes were down in the following communities:

Barrington  — $590,000  (⬇9.23%, based on 11 sales)
Block Island  — $1,400,000 (⬇9.68%, based on one sale)
Central Falls — $220,000 (⬇28.8%, based on one sale)
Jamestown  — $1,585,000 (⬇21.44%, based on four sales)
Little Compton — $785,000 (⬇32.03%, based on two sales)
Narragansett — $670,000 (⬇4.22%, based on 11 sales)
North Smithfield — $435,000 (⬇37.86%, based on 11 sales)
Smithfield — $507,000 (⬇6.63%, based on 11 sales)
Tiverton — $424,000 (⬇14.34%, based on 11 sales)
Warren  — $405,000 (⬇6.03%, based on two sales)
West Greenwich  — $392,500 (⬇15.82%, based on seven sales)

The median price grew the most in Middletown (270.97% to $2,300,000), Charlestown (220.56% to $1,442,500), and Bristol (48.91% to $685,000).

If you have your sights set on Providence County, the median price for a single-family home there jumped 12.97% to $430,000.

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