Here are the top 10 towns in Connecticut where home sale prices rose the most in 2020
Connecticut home sale prices reached their highest levels in decades, a new report shows, with the pandemic spurring buyers to seek different living spaces as work and school went remote and there was an influx of purchasers, particularly in Fairfield and Litchfield counties, from more urban New York.
The median sale price for a single-family house — where half the sales are above, half below — soared more than 15% in 2020, to $300,000, compared with $260,000 a year earlier, according to The Warren Group, which tracks real estate trends and publishes The Commercial Record.
Single-family home sales jumped nearly 17% compared with 2019.
The median price level was the highest in the statistics maintained by The Warren Group going back to 1987. The next closest year was in 2007, when the median price reached $295,000, just as the state — and the nation —fell into a recession. Connecticut’s real estate market had struggled to recover its footings ever since.
The prices buyers were willing to pay in 2020 were particularly stunning considering the year-over-year gain in median prices was less than 1% in 2019
Timothy J. Warren, chief executive of The Warren Group, said the residential real estate market did not see an active spring market, typically the busiest of the year, because the pandemic was just setting in.
“Once July and August rolled around, things went gangbusters,” Warren said.
Warren said the heights reached by the median price were driven by “significant competition” for properties that are in short supply.
Multiple bids became far more common, pushing prices up on the most desirable properties that, according to real estate agents, were “priced right.” Properties that were listed often were under contract in days, or even hours, they said.
Even properties that needed updates were getting a second look, agents said.
An analysis of town-by town statistics for 2020 from The Warren Group, show that 161 municipalities in Connecticut, or 43%, showed some year-over-year increase in median price. Roughly one-quarter of towns and cities gained 10% or more.
However, real estate agents say there have been instances where agreed-up prices between buyers and sellers have come in above appraisals, forcing both sides into more negotiations. And agents say they are also advising buyers to be aware that top dollar paid in a hot market may not necessarily be returned in a future sale.
Here are the top 10 towns and cities across the state where the median sale price for single-family houses gained the most ground by percentage increase above 2019, according to an analysis by the Courant.
Even though Litchfield had to most towns in the top 10, as a county as a whole it came in second to Fairfield Country, according to Warren Group. Fairfield County logged a 23% year-over-year jump in median sale price, registering a 27% rise in sales. Litchfield came in second with a 19% increase in the median price, with 30% higher sales compared with 2019. In Hartford County, the median sale price jumped 11% to $250,000 in 2020, from $226,000 a year earlier, on a 12% increase in sales.
1. Salisbury
County: Litchfield
Median sale price: $610,000, 57%
Sales: 96, up 123%
Population: 3,365
Median household income: $83,217
Notable attraction: Lime Rock Park
2. Warren
County: Litchfield
Median sale price: Litchfield
Sales: 47, 194%
Population: 1,582
Median household income: $98,750
Notable attraction: Lake Waramaug
3. Washington
County: Litchfield
Median sale price: $718,000, up 53%
Sales: 99, up 102%
Population: 3,347
Median household income: $93,975
Notable attraction: Steep Rock Preserve
4. Bridgewater
County: Litchfield
Median sale price: $562,500, up 42%
Sales: 35, 67%
Population: 1,503
Median household income: $102,250
Notable attraction: Bridgewater Country Fair
5. Goshen
County: Litchfield
Median sale price: $410,000, up 38%
Sales: 75, up 25%
Population: 3,095
Median household income: $96,026
Notable attraction: Ivy Mountain State Park
6. Middlebury
County: New Haven
Median sale price: $365,000, up 30%
Sales: 101, up 0%
Population: 8,233
Median household income: $105,036
Notable attraction: Quassy Amusement and Waterpark
7. Cornwall
County: Litchfield
Median sale price: $500,000, up 30%
Sales: 25, up 39%
Population: 1,266
Median household income: $76,563
Notable attraction: Mohawk Mountain Ski Area
8. East Windsor
County: Hartford
Median sale price: $265,000, up 30%
Sales: 117, up 27%
Population: 12,650
Median household income: $75,056
Notable attraction: Connecticut Trolley Museum
9. Morris
County: Litchfield
Median sale price: $350,000, up 26%
Sales: 47, up 81%
Population: 2,341
Median household income: $89,107
Notable attraction: Bantam Lake
10. Putnam
County: Windham
Median sale price: $225,000, up 25%
Sales: 107, up 6%
Population: 10,253
Median household income: $58,416
Notable attraction: Putnam River Trail
The criteria for being included on the top 10 list required at least 25 single-family sales to lessen the chances that a couple of sales would influence price swings. That knocked out four towns — North Canaan, Hampton, Sprague, Norfolk — which had sizeable gains in their year-over-year median price, ranging from 26% to 49%.
SOURCES: The Warren Group; Advance CT; tripadvisor.com; ctvisit.com;
