Where is the most expensive place to buy a house in RI? Here's the list.
LITTLE COMPTON − At the end of a private dead-end street, abutting state conservation land, is a nearly $1 million single-family home, a 3-bedroom, 3-bathroom house in Little Compton.
From the house, one can see Almy Pond, a tributary of the Sakonnet River. Built in 2018, the house is what real estate agent Sarah Korolnek calls "casual coastal sophistication."
Built to be lived in full time, it still has those nice summer vibes, with a balcony off the master bedroom and a porch surrounding an above-ground pool. The open-concept kitchen is well tested, as the current owner loves to cook.
The house at 34 Bernard Lane isn't expensive – for Little Compton. It is right at the median single-family home price during the first half of the year. At a median selling price of a little over $1 million, Little Compton is the second-most-expensive community in the state to buy a house, behind the most coastal, Block Island, at $1.6 million, across 10 sales.
Between 2019 and the first six months of 2023, the median selling price across the state soared, climbing at least 45%, but in Little Compton, it rocketed up 90%.
With Block Island and Little Compton at the top of the list, where else are single-family homes more exclusive than the rest of the state?
The Providence Journal already answered the question of where homes cost less than $400,000 (Central Falls, Woonsocket and Pawtucket) and where condos and multi-family houses are sold for a song, but also with a hefty mortgage. This story is a continuation of that series, but looking at the top, instead of the bottom, of the market.
The Providence Journal examined data provided by the Rhode Island Association of Realtors to find where you can find the state's most expensive homes for sale. The threshold was set at $600,000. The median price statewide in the same period was $412,000.
In nine communities, the median price in the first half of the year was above $600,000. All nine were coastal, and five were not on the mainland.
Most of Little Compton's top taxpayers were residential
Interested in who paid the most property tax in the mostly residential Little Compton? Reporter Paul Edward Parker broke down the list, with a mansion at the top, paying over $75,000 a year.
Where are the most expensive communities to buy a single-family house in Rhode Island?
The following rankings, from most expensive to least expensive, are based on the median single-family home price for the first six months of this year.
Click the town names to jump down to their statistics.
Block Island, $1.58 million
Little Compton, $1 million
Jamestown, $927,500
Newport, $875,000
Narragansett, $743,000
Portsmouth, $726,000
Middletown, $725,000
Barrington, $680,000
East Greenwich, $620,000
Prices have spiked since the pandemic began
In 2019, the most-expensive list was a little different, mostly in the ranking. Coastal communities still dominated the list, but the median price in the ninth-most expensive community, Middletown, was only $397,000.
That's less than the statewide median price in the first six months of this year, at $412,000.
Move up the price list and only the most expensive place in the state, Block Island, broke the $600,000 median price point in 2019, at $990,000. In second place was Jamestown, at $595,000.
Little Compton, taking the second-highest spot so far this year, has seen the second-highest level of price inflation, with the median price increasing 90% since 2019, just below Central Falls' 123%.
At the bottom of this list, East Greenwich has seen the smallest rise in median single family home price, 27%, tied with Scituate.
Despite interest rates, market remains red hot
The house on Bernard Lane would seem to be a pretty easy sell. Easy access to the beach, a new build, nice appliances and "probably priced just right." The house is "affordable luxury," especially for people coming from higher cost-of-living areas, like Boston. Since the property was listed in June, the price has come down from just under $1.2 million to just under $1 million.
"That has me a little stumped," Korolnek said. "It's so beautiful, it's so well done, it's so turnkey."
One reason might be Little Compton itself. It's tucked away, with few amenities – a general store, a pizza shop – and is closer to Fall River than Providence.
"The feedback we've had is a lot of people are drawn to the house, but have never been to Little Compton," she said. Normally, people looking at houses in Little Compton are drawn by the coastal community, not the house.
While the house hasn't sold yet, Korolnek said she's not worried. With so few houses on the market, rising interest rates haven't scared away the people who can still afford to buy.
"It's a very strong market, especially at the luxury level," she said.
Expensive communities mean big mortgages
"Conventional" mortgages, those for less than $726,200, are usually underwritten, serviced and bought by the two federal mortgage lenders Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. That limit is set yearly by the Federal Housing Finance Agency.
Getting a mortgage for more than that requires a "jumbo" loan, Home Loan Investment Bank Mortgage Banker TJ Curran said. Those loans are usually offered by big banks and some regional lenders. The interest rates for jumbo loans are sometimes higher, and sometimes lower, than the conventional mortgage rates.
The current 30-year mortgage rate is 7.57%, a record over the last 20 years. A $600,000 mortgage, excluding other costs like property taxes and private mortgage insurance, costs $4,195 a month at 7.5%. Climb the price scale and a $1-million home at that same rate costs $6,992 a month. At Block Island's $1.6 million, it's $11,187.
How have prices changed in the most expensive communities?
1. Block Island
Median price January-June 2023: $1,575,500 (10 sales)
Median price 2022: $1,650,000 (28 sales)
Median price 2019: $990,000 (26 sales)
Percent change between 2019 and 2023: 59%
Rank in 2019: 1
2. Little Compton
Median price January-June 2023: $1,007,500 (14 sales)
Median price 2022: $1,007,500 (43 sales)
Median price 2019: $747,500 (217 sales)
Percent change between 2019 and 2023: 90%
Rank in 2019: 4
3. Jamestown
Median price January-June 2023: $927,500 (30 sales)
Median price 2022: $997,500 (70 sales)
Median price 2019: $595,000 (120 sales)
Percent change between 2019 and 2023: 56%
Rank in 2019: 2
4. Newport
Median price January-June 2023: $875,000 (59 sales)
Median price 2022: $807,750 (70 sales)
Median price 2019: $535,500 (120 sales)
Percent change between 2019 and 2023: 63%
Rank in 2019: 3
5. Narragansett
Median price January-June 2023: $743,000 (80 sales)
Median price 2022: $760,000 (70 sales)
Median price 2019: $499,450 (120 sales)
Percent change between 2019 and 2023: 49%
Rank in 2019: 5
6. Portsmouth
Median price January-June 2023: $726,000 (101 sales)
Median price 2022: $640,000 (239 sales)
Median price 2019: $406,000 (548 sales)
Percent change between 2019 and 2023: 79%
Rank in 2019: 9
7. Middletown
Median price January-June 2023: $725,000 (55 sales)
Median price 2022: $675,000 (118 sales)
Median price 2019: $397,000 (45 sales)
Percent change between 2019 and 2023: 83%
Rank in 2019: 10
8. Barrington
Median price, January-June 2023: $680,000 (97 sales)
Median price, 2022: $680,000 (241 sales)
Median price 2019: $460,000 (333 sales)
Percent change between 2019 and 2023: 48%
Rank in 2019: 7
9. East Greenwich
Median price January-June 2023: $620,000 (69 sales)
Median price 2022: $670,000 (189 sales)
Median price 2019: $488,500 (230 sales)
Percent change between 2019 and 2023: 27%
Rank in 2019: 6
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Reach reporter Wheeler Cowperthwaite at wcowperthwaite@providencejournal.com or follow him on Twitter @WheelerReporter.
This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: Homes for sale in Rhode Island are the most expensive in these places
