Single-Family Home Sales from Town to Town

I've been meaning to update the data that I collected for the first three months of 2012, based on single-family home sales data available through William Raveis Real Estate.

Upon re-reviewing the information, it seemed to me that the three-month window is sure to be erratic on a running basis. Simply as a matter of their size, a significant number of cities and towns in Rhode Island are apt to have fewer than 20 sales in a calendar quarter, so a good month (or significant sale) would throw things off considerably. Moving forward, therefore, I'll trace the rolling annual average.

The following table presents data for the twelve months ending with July 2012. The percent change columns are measured against the twelve months ending July 2011. The numbers in the pink-shaded cells are not favorable. Coming out of a recession and housing bust, a city or town should want sales to be increasing while inventory drops and median sales prices increase. That's an indication that people want to move into an area and property values are generally on the upswing.

As the table makes very clear, while no cities and towns are in the worst condition — fewer sales, higher inventory, and dropping prices — only four show full progress toward health: Barrington, Burrillville, Little Compton, and North Smithfield.

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