• The real estate market in York County, Maine, is described as active and balanced, with an increase in housing inventory.
• Home sales and median prices in York County and statewide Maine rose from summer 2024 to summer 2025.
• An expanding inventory of available homes is providing more options for potential buyers than in the past five years.
• While home prices are still rising, the rate of increase has slowed, with more properties selling at or below asking price.
• Maine's luxury real estate market remains strong, with a record $12 million sale in Kennebunkport in 2025.

YORK COUNTY, Maine — Local Realtor Rebecca Lapierre sat in her office at Town Square Realty in downtown Sanford on Sept. 26 and described York County’s current real estate scene as active, balanced and growing.

“We’re still in an active housing market,” she said. “I would describe it as more of a balanced market between buyers and sellers ... We’re seeing more of an increase in inventory.”

Lapierre had numbers to back up that assessment, referring to recent statistics from Maine Listings by the Maine Association of Realtors.

Between June 1 and Aug. 31, 2025, 767 homes were sold in York County — a 13.3% increase over the same stretch in 2024. The county’s median sale price also rose, from $530,000 last summer to $550,000 this year. Statewide, the median sits lower at $418,000.

Across Maine, 4,731 homes changed hands during that three-month period, up nearly 9% from 4,356 sales the year before. August alone saw 1,712 homes sold, marking a 10% jump from the 1,557 recorded in August 2024, according to Maine Listings.

Nationally, the housing market showed more modest gains. The National Association of Realtors reported a 2.5% uptick in sales from August 2024 to August 2025, with the median price rising 1.9% to $427,800.

Homebuyers in Maine have more options

According to Jeff Harris, the president of the Maine Association of Realtors, the inventory of available homes in the state is indeed expanding.

“Potential home buyers in Maine have more options than they have had over the past five years,” said Harris, who owns and operates Harris Real Estate in Farmington in Franklin County.

August marked the sixth month in a row that the number of homes on the market and sales have increased. For a statistic like that here in Maine, you’d have to go back to the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to Harris.

“The inventory level of homes for sale is building as more sellers enter the market — currently at the highest level since October of 2020,” he said.

Troy Williams, a realtor with Keller Williams, said new construction is helping boost inventory. He also noted that many homeowners have been waiting for interest rates to fall before listing — but with rates only edging down from above 7% to just over 6%, some are growing restless.

"People kind of just got fatigued with waiting and said, 'I can't wait forever,'" Williams said. "A lot of people have now put their homes on the market."

Will rising inventory finally cool home prices?

Williams said while home prices are still up, their climb has begun to decelerate.

More properties are now selling at or below asking price, he noted, compared to earlier periods when many sold for 102% to 103% of their list price.

"They're not accelerating at the same rate they were," Williams said. "The market overall, pricewise, is pretty flat."

Realtor John Guy of Keller Williams, who primarily works in rentals, said he’s also noticed an uptick in homes for sale.

“There is more inventory on the market,” Guy said. “People are noticing, you can drive around town. You start to notice there’s a couple more ‘for sale’ signs than there were in previous years.”

While it remains a seller’s market, Guy said buyers have more choices lately. He’s seen increased interest in fixer-uppers, especially from young families who’ve struggled to find housing in the area.

“I think seeing that is a really good indicator,” Guy said. “They’re starting to have a little bit of hope that they might be able to buy a property.”

Maine's luxury real estate market still going strong

In early January, Legacy Properties Sotheby’s International Realty, of Kennebunk, announced that one of its agents, Bill Gaynor, sold the seaside home at 267 Ocean Ave. in Kennebunkport for a whopping $12 million.

In making that sale, Gaynor broke his own record of selling another home in Kennebunkport, on Turbats Creek Road, for $9 million in late 2023.

On Sept. 26, Lapierre confirmed the $12 million sale remains the top one in York County in 2025 so far.

Dana Whitney, of Legacy Properties Sotheby's International Realty, noted that historically, Maine's luxury real estate market is most active during the second half of the year.

"Given the strong momentum we have experienced thus far, we anticipate a vibrant and dynamic market going forward, characterized by additional record-setting transactions and the emergence of exceptional properties to captivate new owners eager to embrace Maine's distinctive lifestyle," Whitney said.

Whitney said the robust demand for luxury homes in Maine continues unabated.

In the first half of the year, 532 homes priced above $1 million were sold. Nearly 80% of these were within the rapidly expanding $1 to $2 million range, with approximately 93% selling for less than $3 million. The ultra-luxury market, priced above $4 million, has recorded 10 sales to date.

Refinancing rises as interest rates ease

While interest rates are coming down – the Federal Reserve lowered them a bit as recently as this month – Lapierre is not entirely convinced they are currently impacting buying and selling. She did say, however, that the rates are affecting the lending industry, with more people refinancing their homes.

“The interest rates are definitely coming down, but not enough to entice those sellers who refinanced their homes back when the rates were lower to put their house on the market,” she said.

Reasons for the real estate shift vary, Lapierre added. In Sanford, for example, the population tends to be older, so there could be more residents aging out of their homes and moving somewhere smaller and more manageable.

As long as nothing major happens to the economy or in world events, this shift towards a more balanced real estate market is likely to continue for the rest of 2025, Lapierre said.

“I think it’s going to stay steady,” she said. “I don’t think we’re going to see any major shifts or fluctuations ... not until probably those rates kind of come down a little more.

“It’s still a good, healthy market out there.”