Home sales slow in Greater Hartford with fewer property choices and buyers more wary of prices
Home sales in greater Hartford aren’t getting the expected bump up so far this fall, a new report showed Tuesday. The number of single-family houses up for sale plunged nearly 30% in September and sales fell, as buyers appeared more wary of fewer choices and higher prices.
The report from the Greater Hartford Association of Realtors, an industry group, also suggested there won’t be a lot of change as the area approaches winter: pending sales — an indicator of expected home sales in the next 45 to 60 days — decreased by 13% in September, compared with the same month a year ago.
One bright spot in Tuesday’s report showed the median sale price of a single-family house in September still rose more than 3%, to $300,000 from $290,000 a year earlier, on sales that dropped nearly 7% from a year ago.
“The drop in sales could be due to potential buyers waiting for prices to ease,” Holly Callanan, the association’s chief executive said, in a release.
The association tracks 27 towns and cities in the Hartford area stretching from Suffield to Rocky Hill and Canton to Willington.
Throughout Connecticut — and especially in the Hartford area — the pandemic touched off a home-buying frenzy. Buyers sought bigger living spaces as more people worked from home and adjusted to remote schooling.
The Greater Hartford market turned red-hot and drew national attention, earning a spot more than once on national listings of metro areas across the country with the most home sale activity.
In recent months, however, there has been a bit of a slowing, as the inventory of properties for sale has dwindled. Real estate agents say would-be sellers are sitting on the sidelines, concerned they won’t find another home if they sell theirs.
Buyers also are turning more cautious about what they pay, especially if list prices are too high. Agents say homes that are priced competitively can still draw multiple offers and sell for over the list price, however.
Rising mortgage rates also have the potential to further slow the trajectory of home purchases. Higher borrowing costs mean buyers cannot afford as high a priced home, a concern in a market where prices have risen in the last year.
The 30-year fixed-rate average climbed to 3.05% last week, according to mortgage giant Freddie Mac, compared with 2.81% a year ago and 2.99% a week earlier.
Even with a modest cooling this fall, the home sale market is still shaping up for a healthy year in 2021.
Through the first nine months of this year, sales rose 4% and the median sale price jumped more than 15% to $310,000 from $269,000 for the same period in 2020. The average days on market after a single-family house was listed dropped sharply by more than 43% to 30 days, from 53 days, according to Tuesday’s report.
Contact Kenneth R. Gosselin at kgosselin@courant.com
