Prospective homebuyers anxiously awaiting a significant price drop are going to have to wait a little longer. Maine home prices reached a new record high last month.

Maine homebuyers paid a median of $425,000 in May, a 6.5% increase over the same month last year, according to data released Monday by the Maine Association of Realtors.

The median is the price at which half of the homes sold for more and half sold for less.

The new record comes just two months after Maine recorded its first year-over-year median price decrease in six years. The previous record of $409,450 was set in September 2024.

Meanwhile, 1,227 homes changed hands, a roughly 3% increase compared to May 2024, but a 30% increase from April.

While the $425,000 median price point can be hard to swallow, Jeff Harris, president of the Maine Association of Realtors, said there are still signs that price jumps could be slowing down.

Half of Maine’s 16 counties still had a median sale price below $350,000, he said, and of those, six counties had a median price below $300,000.

The last few months have seen more for-sale listings, loosening the vise-like grip that low inventory has held over the market for the last several years.

At the end of May, Maine had about 23% – or 825 – more homes on the market than at the end of April.

“We’re seeing more homes coming onto the market for sale and that’s a positive for buyers,” said Harris, a broker affiliated with Harris Real Estate in Farmington. “Over time, if the inventory of homes on the market grows, we’ll see a moderation of home pricing.”

It’s still far from a balanced market, however.

According to Maine listings, the state has just over three months’ worth of inventory. A six-month supply is considered a balanced market.

Buyer demand is also heating up as the busy spring and summer markets get under way.

In February, the average Maine home sat on the market for 40 days. That has steadily been decreasing each month, and in May, the average home was listed and sold within nine days.

Nationally, sales nudged upward, if only barely, with a 0.3% increase compared to May 2024, while the median sale price increased just over 1% to $427,800 according to the National Association of Realtors.

Regionally, sales in the Northeast increased 4% and prices increased about 7% to $513,300 over the same period.

Lawrence Yun, chief economist for the national association, blamed the “relatively subdued” sales on persistently high mortgage rates, which are causing people to hesitate before starting the home search.

According to mortgage buyer Freddie Mac, the average rate on a 30-year mortgage was 6.81% on Thursday.

“If mortgage rates decrease in the second half of this year, expect home sales across the country to increase due to strong income growth, healthy inventory, and a record-high number of jobs,” Yun said.

The Maine Association of Realtors also looks at three months of data in county-by-county comparisons to get a larger sample size of sale transactions.

The median price increased just over 3% to $400,000 between March 1 and May 31, compared to the same three-month span the year before. Between March and May, the number of homes sold statewide slipped just under half a percent.

Cumberland County held its spot as Maine’s most expensive county with a median sale price of $570,000, despite a slight decline (less than half a percent) from the prior three-month span. York County was the second-most expensive, with a median sale price of $525,000.

Overall, six counties recorded price decreases. Washington County had the biggest price drop at around 8.5% to $198,500. It joined Aroostook County as the only Maine counties with a median price under $200,000.

Lincoln County’s price increase of 17% was the largest in the state, bringing the area’s median sale price to $465,000.

Prices were flat at $275,000 in Penobscot County.

The number of sales was a mixed bag, with eight counties reporting declines and eight reporting increases.

Knox County saw a roughly 27% sales decrease, the largest in the state, while Waldo County saw the largest increase – about  40%. Sales were flat in Kennebec County.