ProJo: R.I.'s median house price rises by 10 percent in first quarter

Rhode Island was ranked as one of the country's least affordable housing markets in March, while in the first quarter of 2018, the state's median house price jumped by 10 percent, rising to $252,250.

PROVIDENCE, R.I. — Rhode Island was ranked as one of the country's least affordable housing markets in March, while in the first quarter of 2018, the state's median house price jumped by 10 percent, rising to $252,250.

“Though Rhode Island's housing market has not yet hit the peak reached before the housing downturn, strong price gains are affecting affordability, particularly among first-time home buyers,” the Rhode Island Association of Realtors said in its first-quarter market report, released Wednesday.

Rhode Island's median house price reached $282,900 for the boom year of 2005, but it declined after the banking crisis in 2008, falling to $190,000 in 2012.

According to the National Association of Realtors' affordability index, in March, Rhode Island, along with Hawaii, California, Oregon, the District of Columbia, and Montana, were identified as the least affordable places in the country, and where “households at the median income level can afford only 19 to 23 percent of the active housing inventory.” The index compares median incomes with the prices of houses for sale in given markets.

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