WARWICK, R.I, - March 21, 2025 - In February, single-family home sales in Rhode Island fell 8.8% from February 2024 continuing a twelve-month trend in vacillating sales activity. Pending contracts fell by 10.1% year-over-year, an indication of waning buyer demand and closed sales in the month or two ahead. The median price of single-family homes continued to rise, although more moderately. February sales reached $455,500, a 3.5% year-over-year increase, according to a recent report from the Rhode Island Association of Realtors.

In contrast, sales in the multifamily home market rose by 7.9% compared to February 2024, though pending sales also fell by 6.8%. Multifamily homes continue to be among the priciest on the market, with the midpoint of all sales landing at $559,950, a 7.7% increase from the prior year.

“The upside to owning a multifamily has always been the great potential to obtain passive rental income and the ability to gain generational wealth.  More importantly, in today’s housing crisis, multifamilies are also a very desirable option for multigenerational families or an owner-occupied buyer looking to reduce monthly costs through rental income.  However, with a very limited supply of existing stock, climbing sale prices and costly regulatory mandates for landlords of rentals units here in Rhode Island, the benefits of owing a multifamily home are quickly eroding.” said Chris Whitten, president of the Rhode Island Association of Realtors.

While sales of condominiums grew 3.5% last month from February 2024, pending sales fell 18.1%, foretelling a slowdown in that sector as well. The median price of condominiums sold in February was $400,000, 22% higher than the $328,000 median price recorded 12 months earlier.

Though the housing crisis has impacted the nation, it has affected Rhode Island particularly hard. The Ocean State has roughly half of the housing supply of the national average. Despite gains in the number of properties on the market in recent months, demand continues to outstrip supply. At the current rate of sales, without the addition of any new listings, Rhode Island’s single-family home market would be depleted in just 1.5 months. The condominium and multifamily home sectors fare negligibly better at just 1.9 months and 1.7 months. Across the country, the National Association of Realtors reported a 3.5-month supply of residential properties in February.

“It pains us to see Rhode Island continue to be dead last in new construction year after year.  Although we’re making slow progress in many ways, we still have a long way to go. The road to fully repairing our housing crisis here in the Ocean State is a marathon, not a sprint.  But the urgency to make the sensible changes needed remains dire.  The more we continue to work and communicate with each other at the State House and in each city or town hall, the quicker we’ll provide the housing solutions our state yearns for,” commented Whitten.

Home sales data is sourced from State-Wide Multiple Listing Service, a subsidiary of the Rhode Island Association of Realtors.