House sales in Rhode Island continued on a downward path last month, taking prices along with them, according to a Boston-based research firm.

The good news for people with houses to sell is that the market’s downward trajectory flattened out a bit

“Rhode Island’s housing market seems to be on a flatter track than those in neighboring New England states,” said Timothy Warren Jr., chief executive officer of The Warren Group. “The declines in price and sales during the first four months of this year have not been dramatic, and are probably a symptom of a necessary market correction.

For April, The Warren Group found single-family house sales fell 5.6 percent, from 747 to 707, when compared with the same month last year. The median price of single-family house fell as well, by 3.1 percent, from $274,000 to $265,000.

Year-to-date sales also declined for the first four months of the year, when compared with the same period a year ago, dropping 3.6 percent from 2,679 to 2,583.

The median price also dropped during the four-month period, falling 1.9 percent from $265,000 to $260,000.

A separate report out this month showed house construction declined in Rhode Island during the first quarter, with building permits for single-family houses down 17 percent.

Twenty-five of Rhode Island’s 29 cities and towns showed a first-quarter decline, according to a report put out by the Rhode Island Builders Association.

The statewide median price of a single-family house was $255,000 in the first quarter, according to a previous Warren Group report.

Providence County showed the biggest drop in sales during April as single-family house sales fell 17.1 percent, from 420 to 348.

Condominium listings rose 21 percent in the state during April, when compared with the same month last year, according to the Rhode Island Association of Realtors. Last month’s Rhode Island listings were up 140 percent from 2005, according to the Realtors’ report.

April was a healthy month for condo sales in Rhode Island, The Warren Group said, but year-to-date numbers show a steady market. Condo sales rose from 175 last April to 218 in the same month this year, an increase of 24.6 percent. Condo sales rose 2.8 percent in the first four months of the year, from 714 to 734.

The media price for a condo fell slightly in April, dropping 0.7 percent from $255,000 last year to $223,500 this year. The median price fell 4.7 percent from $232,250 to $221,250 during the first four months of the year.

Nationally, house prices dropped last quarter for the first time in almost 16 years, as 13 out of 20 cities reported declines in March.

The value of a house dropped 1.4 percent in the first three months of the year from the same period in 2006, according to a report yesterday by S&P/Case-Shiller. Prices last fell during the third quarter of 1991.

The retreat may deter owners from tapping into home equity for extra cash, economists said. Combined with record gasoline prices, lower house prices raise concern that consumer spending, which accounts for more than two-thirds of the economy, will slow.

“We don’t see a big rebound in economic growth,” said Scott Anderson, a senior economist at Wells Fargo & Co. in Minneapolis.

But the decline in prices may not be large enough to concern the majority of home owners, economists said. The drop in prices in the 12 months ended March pales in comparison with the 157-percent gain over the previous 15 years.

Sellers are reducing prices to lure buyers as the supply of properties on the real-estate market grows. Rising foreclosures as subprime borrowers default on loans may add to the glut of unsold houses, delaying a recovery from the housing slump, economists said.

“The bottom line is, there are just too many homes on the market,” said Christopher Low, chief economist at FTN Financial in New York. “The pressure on prices is not going to ease any time soon.”

With Bloomberg News reports

pgrimald@projo.com