Estelle Mailloux owns a North Smithfield condo, away from the bustle of Warwick and in a setting she could sell in a heartbeat. But daily she makes the trip to Warwick to be with family.

Now she wants to live in Warwick and is looking to buy a condo here. She quickly discovered there are few single family homes and virtually no condos on the market. Then she spotted the housing development on Kilvert Street alongside the row of recently completed single family homes a stone’s thrown from Hilton Garden in and not far from the interlink with Green Airport and rental car garage on Jefferson Boulevard. She looked for signs on the property and searched the internet for announcements of an upcoming opening. She came up empty handled. She called the Beacon for any information.

“It’s crazy,” she said, “We know we can sell ours (the North Smithfield condo). But try to find something on the other end.”

With the help of the planning department, the Beacon learned two of the units Mailloux was eying were recently granted certificates of occupancy and that Golden Grove Management is handling rentals of the units for Centreville Builders. Golden Grove Way is the name of the street where they are situated off Kilvert Street. Disappionting news for Mailloux, they aren’t condos.  The units consisting of two bedrooms, two baths, a garage and basement storage are $2,550 for the larger of the two units and $2,400 for the smaller one.

What Mailloux is experiencing is hardly news to Rhode Island realtors. The bottom line as the Rhode Island Association of Realtors have repeatedly said in monthly reports is that buyers are chasing a paucity of homes and condos which is driving up prices in spite of interest rates, although rates have backed down in recent months from 8% to around 6.8% for premium buyers, offering a ray of hope to realtors.

Nick Slocum of Slocum Real Estate in Warwick attributes the lagging market in part to the “lock-in effect.” He explains that many who bought homes and condos when the interest rates were at a low of 2% can’t afford higher mortgages costs now even though they could sell for a gain. Additionally, house and condo prices are higher now, making the sell, move and buy all the more challenging.

“They’re choosing to stay where they are,” he said. Looking at the numbers, he said that as of Friday only one of the ten condos on the Warwick market was selling for less than $300,000.

According for the association’s December report the median sales price of a single-family home was $427,000, up 9.6% from a year earlier, and the median price of a condo was $360,000, the lowest median price of all residential properties and “the most affordable option for many who are looking to gain access to home ownership at the lowest possible price point.”

Association president, Sally Hersey, who turned to real estate 18 years ago because she wanted to be her own boss said it is important to “set expectations” for both buyers and sellers. She also finds transparency in every aspect of a transaction critical.

Hersey said escalating interest rates ”scared” buyers, putting a chill on the market. As rates have come down from a high of 8% for premium buyers, she senses a growing optimism. A  $350,000 mortgage at 8% is  $2,568.18 per month versus $2,212.24 at 6.5%, a savings of more than $350 a month.

 Hersey stays in touch with prospective buyers, pointing out many “want what they want.” Empty nesters, as an example, may want a smaller house on a single level, yet with a large master bedroom. Finding the ideal house to make the match often requires working with other agents and identifying “off market properties.”

“We all reach out to each other,” she said. After pinning down expectations, her advice to prospective buyers is “perseverance and persistence… you’ve got to have a thick skin.”

Summing up conditions in an association report release Tuesday, she said, “Last year was a difficult year for anyone interested in buying a new home. The extreme shortage of inventory coupled with high interest rates left all but the most qualified out of the running in getting to the closing table. Thankfully, declining interest rates toward the end of the year helped mitigate the freefall in sales. As potential sellers get used to the new normal in rates in 2024, we’re hopeful that they will be more at ease about listing their house and using their equity gains to make a move.”