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V O L . X X I X N O. X X S E P T E M B E R 4 , 2 0 2 3 6 The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency awarded the Gulf of Maine Research Institute in Portland $96,000 and Maine Campus Contact in Lewiston $90,000 through its Environmental Education Grants Program. U.S. Sen. Susan Collins announced that the Maine Department of Transportation, the Maine Department of Marine Resources and the Passamaquoddy Tribe received a total of $35.1 million through the U.S. Department of Transportation's Culvert Aquatic Organism Passage program for infrastructure projects to improve fish migration in Maine. Quarryside at Rock Row, featur- ing Lone Pine Brewing opened in Westbrook. The University of Southern Maine opened its first on-campus Portland residence hall, featuring 580 beds, and a new parking garage with 500 parking spaces. CUNA Strategic Services in Madison, Wisc., announced an alliance with Constant AI, a SaaS company in Portland specializing in consumer loan servicing, loss mitigation automa- tion and member self-service, to help credit unions reduce servicing costs and generate new revenue within the servicing experience. The Vermont Flannel Co. opened a store at 432 Fore St. in Portland. As a result of a 1% Impact Fee for hotel guests to help increase its impact on the local commu- nity, the Kennebunkport Resort Collection made a quarterly donation totaling $40,000 to four organizations. Recipients included Center for Wildlife, Maine Youth Leadership, Kennebunkport Consolidated Parent Teacher Association and Kennebunkport Heritage Housing Trust. B U S I N E S S M A I N E Business news from around the state B R I E F Maine homes still pricey, while the number of sales fell again in July B y W i l l i a m H a l l P o r t l a n d — New data on Maine home sales shows a familiar pattern of increasing prices and fewer properties changing hands. The number of existing single-family homes sold in July fell 20.9% from the total during July 2022, according to data released Aug. 22 by the Maine Association of Realtors. The July median sale price — the amount at which half of the homes sold for more and half for less — was $380,000, up 7.34% over the price a year ago. But this July's median sale price was slightly lower than in June, when the MSP hit an all-time high of $385,000. The number of homes available for sale in July was nearly 9% above the number for sale in June and 6% above the number in July 2022. "There are still plenty of buyers seeking homes across Maine and they are facing a sustained tight supply of for- sale inventory, though we're seeing some improvement," said Carmen McPhail, 2023 president of the Maine Association of Realtors and associate broker at United Country Lifestyle Properties of Maine. Other data July home sales fell 16.3% nationwide in comparison to a year ago, the National Association of Realtors also said. The median sale price inched up 1.6% to $412,300. In the Northeast, the number of home sales decreased 23.8% between July 2022 and July 2023, while the median sale price rose 5.5% to $467,500 over the same period. In Maine, the number of sales during May, June and July was down from last year's total for the same period in every county except Piscataquis. The greatest decreases on a per- centage basis were in Sagadahoc, Hancock and Androscoggin counties respectively, which each saw sale numbers fall by at least 25%. In Piscataquis County, the number of sales for the three-month period was 97, up 7.8% from the 90 homes sold during that time last year. Piscataquis County also recorded the sharpest fall in median sale price, 5%, for May-July 2023 in comparison to the same period last year. Franklin and Knox were the only other Maine counties where the median price fell, by 3% and 0.6% respectively. For the most recent three-month period, the highest median home sale price was in Cumberland County, $550,000, while the lowest was in Aroostook County, $155,000. C O U R T E S Y / B E N C H M A R K R E A L E S TAT E A two-bedroom home at 1277 Forest Ave. in Portland is on the market for $399,000, about 5% over Maine's median sales price of $380,000 in July. July's median sale price was slightly lower than in June, when the MSP hit an all-time high of $385,000. N O T E W O R T H Y S T A T E W I D E S T A T E W I D E N O T E W O R T H Y S O U T H E R N S O U T H E R N

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