Americans typically head to Maine for vacation and to enjoy a lobster roll, but figures released this week indicate that more people are entering the Pine Tree State to buy a home.
Maine's statewide median sales price grew to $425,000 between May 2024 and last month, a 6.5% increase and a record high, the Maine Association of Realtors said in a report it released Monday. The number of single-family homes sold grew to 1,227 last month, roughly a 3.2% increase from a year prior.
Those figures mean homebuying is ramping up as the state enters its peak homebuying season, the association said.
"We’re seeing more homes coming onto the market for sale, and that’s a positive for buyers,” Jeff Harris, the group's president, said in a statement. "The number of May 2025 sales exceeded the May 2024 sales numbers by 3.3 percent and topped last month’s sales figures by 30 percent. Our statistics indicate that, at the end of May, Maine had 4,422 homes on the market — an increase of 825 from April’s month-end."
However, economists have noticed that elevated mortgage rates are keeping some would-be buyers on the sidelines in the U.S.
“It’s a nearly impossible housing market for first-time buyers," Heather Long, chief economist at Navy Federal Credit Union, said in a statement Monday. "Existing home sales ticked up slightly in May, but the big picture remains that mortgage rates are high, sale prices are high, and maintenance costs are high."
The National Association of Realtors said Monday that housing inventory rose to 1.54 million in the U.S. in May, a sign of a more balanced market for buyers.
Maine counties see mixed sales results
In Maine, sales of single-family homes were down slightly (0.49%) in March-May 2025 compared to March-May 2024. Somerset and Waldo counties, which form a line stretching from the center coast north to the Canadian border, saw the biggest jumps in sales — 33.7% and 39%, respectively — in that time frame.
Androscoggin County, found south of the capital, Augusta, and coastal Knox County, home to the city of Rockland, experienced the biggest sales drops — 20.8% and 27.2%, respectively.
Despite the slight drop in sales in that quarter, home prices in the state rose 3.36% to a median of $400,000 in that time frame. Lincoln County, which hugs the coast, saw the biggest jump in the median sales price: 17.7% to $465,000. As of June 23, Homes.com listings in the county's most populous city, Waldoboro, ranged from $295,610 for a three-bedroom, one-and-a-half bath single-family home to $2 million for a three-bedroom, one-bath cabin on 274 acres.
Lincoln County prices are likely rising because it's becoming an increasingly popular area for Massachusetts residents to relocate or buy a vacation home, Scott Lash, an agent with Lash Realty Group in Waldoboro, told Homes.com. Lincoln County is deep enough into Maine that Bay Staters can be a close drive back to Massachusetts if they need to be, while still feeling as if they are away from a big city, Lash said.
"The attractiveness is that it has a rural vibe but has some waterfront properties," he said. "It's a happy medium for people coming from Massachusetts but are trying to get away from southern Maine."
Maine is a state known for its vacation properties — including many high-end ones — but its lower-priced primary homes are a big draw. People are flocking to Maine. The state's population grew from 1.36 million in 2020 to 1.4 million in 2024, according to U.S. Census Bureau data, which is five years faster than the state had predicted.
Maine is also seeing its fair share of higher home prices and inventory growth, the realtors report said. The most expensive residential real estate remains in Cumberland County — which includes the city of Portland — where the median sales price for a single-family home hit $570,000 last month. As of June 23, Homes.com listings in Portland ranged from a one-bedroom, one-bath condo for $295,000 to a two-bedroom, two-and-a-half-bath condo with a private rooftop for $3.19 million.
Homes can be purchased for well under the state median in these counties
“While the statewide median sales price reached a new historic high of $425,000 in May, eight of Maine’s 16 counties reported median sold prices below $350,000, and six of those counties had a median sold price below $300,000.”
Aroostook, Franklin, Penobscot, Piscataquis, Somerset, and Washington counties — in the state's northernmost reaches — had homes priced below $300,000, according to the report, which draws its information from the Multiple Listing Service.
Like many parts of the Northeast, Maine is grappling with a housing shortage brought on by a slight population increase and stalled new home construction. One estimate found that Maine needs 84,000 new homes by 2030 to meet the demand.
“Over time, if the inventory of homes on the market grows, we’ll see a moderation of home pricing,” Harris, an agent with Harris Real Estate in Farmington, said in the statement.